Rise Of Reach: The Lost Fleet (Redux)
by Obsidianjake
Summary: The UNSC Pillar Of Autumn, the last ship to land on Reach before it fell completely. Now join the crew along with the survivors of Reach as they attempt to navigate a new galaxy after a slipspace incident forces them into a blind jump.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the re-write of another story of mine, I have around six chapters already written and I will be posting them throughout the coming week so don't worry for lack of content.**

 **Yes this was inspired by my other story.**

Keyes stood in his quarters, his knuckles bare and white as he turned off the radio he had been listening to for the past hour and a half, all he heard were the transmissions of the dead and dying marines, all of them calling for help he could provide if it wasn't for ONI. They wanted the _Autumn_ to go after some prophet who was apparently a big head honcho in the covenant power structure and even though killing him might shake up the covenants power structure a little bit, it didn't sit right with Keyes leaving all these men behind to die a painful death under a beam of superheated plasma energy that would literally turn them into dust as their home burned around them. He could almost hear the screams of the civilians and marines that got left behind in the miserable evacuation of Reach.

They had been arrogant thinking that they could defend Reach from the alien hoard known as the covenant, with all their new advances in technology ever since they first reached out to the stars and began colonizing other planets, all their weapons and defenses that they built so proudly, thinking they were the masters of war due to their history with it. But when the covenant came they taught humanity the ways of slaughter, as they burned each of humanities many worlds for seemingly no reason other than the fact that they seemed to view humans as heretics.

Keyes felt the _Autumn_ shake as the ground beneath the ship let out a horrible tremor, the covenant plasma beams were causing tectonic instability across the entire region as they glassed the planet.

All the major cities had been wiped out first as the covenant took the planet in a surprise attack that caught their space forces off guard.

Rubbing his temples Keyes felt his head throb slowly as he began to get a headache, He had a choice to make and he knew it deep in the marrow of his bones as he looked around the officers quarters that had become his home ever since he came in command of the _Autumn_. He knew what he had to do and he didn't care that went against ONI's shady orders, he would not be remembered as the man who let Reach burn around him without at least trying to save someone.

Keyes pressed the small button on the comm link in his ear, the crackle of static from the radio disappeared as soon as he got in contact with the bridge. "Bridge, this is the Captain, begin broadcasting this message to all surviving marines on the planet. This is Captain Keyes of the _Pillar Of Autumn_ , I am taking Command of the forces left on Reach, to all marine forces left on the planet, disengaged and fallback to our position." Keyes ordered, the tone in his voice letting the man know that he would allow this order to be disobeyed no matter what.

"Message broadcasting, Sir." The crewman on the other line replied, a hint of worry in his voice as he realized what the captain was planning.

"Good, now are our two Spartans close to our position?" Keyes asked as he leaned back into his chair, looking over at his sidearm on the table as he spoke.

"They are about twenty minutes out, sir."

"Good, let's give them a warm welcome, I want the marines to clear out the area around the ship." With that Keyes cut the comm line, his pipe in one hand as he rubbed the side of his head with the other. "I hope I made the right choice." He muttered as he got up, strapping his side arm to his waist as he walked out of his quarters and began to make his way to the bridge, passing by several marines as they made their way to the loading area near the ship to reinforce the men defending the _Autumn_ from covenant boarding action.

The echo of weapons fire could be heard through the titanium armor of the _Autumn_ as the covenant tried to push their way into the ship by force, he could hear the yells of the marines through their comms as they protected the crew and her cargo from attack.

Keyes knew these men would not be sacrificing themselves for nothing, they would be saving their brothers in arms that were still trapped on Reach, fighting to defend their homes even though they had already lost and Keyes hoped that they would realize this and leave while they could.

 **Noble Six - Reach - 19 minutes away from the** _ **Pillar Of Autumn.**_

Noble Six felt the mongoose drop out from under him as he jumped the gap of a collapsed bridge, the quad bike skidded along the pavement hitting many grunts along the way before exploding in a shower of sparks. He hit the pavement after it, his shields flaring golden as they protected his armor from the ruined concrete. The explosion managed to distract the covenant forces long enough for Six and Emile to get their bearings. Holding his M37A Assault rifle in his hands, Six began to fire, unleashing a hail of lead and metal towards the contacts. Emile was gunning down each covvie that got into the range of his shotgun, it wasn't just a mission anymore to them it was revenge for their fallen squadmates, the rifle let out several cracks as the bullets embedded themselves into several grunts heads as the shell casings hit the ground letting out a loud jingle as they did.

He reloaded his rifle as an elite with a plasma sword came charging at him, the alien quickly raising it's sword as Six brought up his arm to block the sword from hitting his vital organs. But the blow never came as the sound of a shotgun firing came instead. Six lowered his arm as he looked at the now dead elite, it's body slumping over as it let out a gurgle from the massive gaping hole that now occupied its chest.

Six held his MA37 in one hand as he aimed at the rest of the grunts that made up the squad they were fighting, pulling the trigger as the rifle let out a spray of bullets, he moved the rifle from left to right as he mowed down the covenant grunts their elite commanders were throwing at the two Spartan-III's in order to wear them down before attacking them with the heavier hitters. But they underestimated the two augmented humans as Emile ran into a group of elites that were holding back and firing at the two of them with their plasma repeaters and plasma rifles, firing his shotgun at an elite breaking the aliens shield before beating him with the stock of the weapon.

"Contact left Six!" Emile yelled over the gun and plasma fire.

The warning came just in time as a brute chieftain slammed his gravity hammer down where Six had been standing. Firing his assault rifle at the apes head as he fell backwards, Six watched as several rounds penetrated the skull of the creature. The brute dropped dead, it's shield generator sparking as Six stood back up.

"Thanks," he said to Emile before firing his MA37 into a group of jackals holding up their shields to block the bullets from striking their frail bodies as Six jumped into the group as he continued to fire his rifle, his boots slamming into the ground, kicking up a lot of dust and dirt as he moved through the group of alien invaders.

Slamming another magazine into the assault rifle Six fired hail of rounds into an elite zealot as it attempted to change him with an energy sword clutched firmly in its three fingered hand as it let out a shrill battle cry. Six ducked out of the way of a slash from the elites energy sword as the alien warrior attempted to take off his head with the blade of plasma.

Six spun around as quickly as he could as the elite passed by him, his assault rifle ready as he continued firing into the back of the elite, the bullets streaking from the muzzle of the rifle, flying through the air before striking the elite in the back finally breaking through the tough shields that protected the alien from harm as the rest of the bullets broke through the tough skin of the elite, causing purple blood to shoot out of the wounds as the bullets passed through the body and out of the chest of the elite as the male warrior let out a soft gurgle before falling over dead.

Standing back up the Spartan-III reloaded his rifle with a fresh magazine as he heard the sound of rock hitting the ground as the covenant ships above them continued to glass the landscape of Reach with their massive plasma beams that arced down towards the ground, melting stone and dirt into glass as the two Spartans made their way towards the launch site of the _Autumn_.

Six only hoped that the ship had managed to survive the covenant onslaught. Emile took point with his shotgun as Six took up the rear, the two Spartans holding their weapons at the ready as they moved through the bombed out buildings along the highway and the destroyed vehicles that blocked sections of the destroyed concrete road they walked on.

Every now and then they came across the bodies of marines who had been trying to hold off the covenant as they approached the spaceport, fighting to the very last man to prevent the aliens from getting to the last hope humanity had for a way to fight the covenant on equal terms.

Six stepped over a few of the bodies as him and Emile passed through a destroyed checkpoint, the last landmark they had before they reached the spaceport that contained the Halcyon-class cruiser waiting for the package he was carrying.

"Is the package secure Six?" Emile asked as he finished checking another building for covenant forces as they passed through the checkpoint, finding nothing but dead marine and covenant bodies.

Glancing down at the crystal chip, Six saw it emit a purple spark in confirmation that she was alright. With a nod to Emile, the two spartans continued their journey to the _Pillar of Autumn_.

Six stepped over one charred body of a female marine as the two men made their way down the road through a canyon that lead to the spaceport, the sound of rifle and heavy machine gun fire could be heard as the two soldiers broke out into a sprint towards the spaceport, jumping over and sliding under any obstacles that got in their way as they ran towards the mission objective, the cylinder attached to the lower torso of Six's armor rubbing against the titanium plates of his armor as the two of them ran as fast as the two Spartans could manage, adrenaline pumping through their veins as their boots left large imprints on the dirt that separated sections of the road they ran on, the sounds of gun and plasma fire echoing through the canyon as they sprinted as fast as their augmented muscles could carry them.

Then they came to a sheer cliff that blocked their path to the spaceport, Six couldn't help but let out a soft groan as his enhanced muscles tightened at the sight of the sheer cliff.

"We're here Six," Emile said as he moved forward and began to climb slowly up a cliff, the rocks cracking a bit under his weight.

Six followed him up grabbing onto a pair of handholds he found in the rock as he began to pull the weight of him and his armor up the cliff face, being as careful as he could so he didn't damage the package as he climbed the cliff, his gauntleted hands digging into the rock as he moved upwards his arms straining as he pulled his body up. One rock gave out under Six's weight causing him to slip slightly before he caught himself, leaving him dangling by his hands and one foot. With a grunt Six managed to get his footing again his boot digging into the rock as he made a new foot hole in the side of the cliff with his boot, pulling his body and his heavy armor up with his own strength. With another grunt, he got up to the ledge, pulling himself onto the cliff.

"There she is Six," Emile said as he looked at the newly refitted _Pillar of Autumn_ the grey metal of the ship shining in the bright light as another blast of heated air came over the horizon as the covenant continued to glass the planet, letting the two Spartans know that this was no time to be looking around as Emile began to move towards the sound of gunfire and yelling marines, shotgun in hand as he ejected an empty shell and slid down the hill in front of them, his boots digging into the side of the steep hill as Six followed

Six spotted several squads of marines under fire as he slid down the hill his rifle clutched firmly in both of his hands as he watched them fire their weapons at the approaching covenant foes his boots hitting the concrete as Six's view of the marines was suddenly blocked by a pillar of black smoke, but he could still hear their bullets echoing over the roars of the covenant aliens.

"Let's do what we do best Emile," Six said as he held his assault rifle tightly in his hands, his boots stomping against the ruined pavement of the starport as he ran into an enemy squad of grunts mixed with elites and brutes. That were attempting to flank the defending marines and overpower them with numbers. Tossing a plasma grenade at an elite minor the blue orb arcing through the air as he gunned down the grunts as they fled the blue orb, as they saw it stick to the elites armor.

One brute managed to get a lucky punch before Six could turn to face the ape like alien, knocking Six down onto his back, causing his rifle to slide out of the grip of the Spartans hands and onto the hard pavement as the brute raised it's spike rifle with one hand and prepared to fire at the downed Spartan. Six rolled out of the way as the brute fired the rifles deadly load of spikes that embedded themselves into the spot Six had been occupying, the superheated spikes of alien metal breaking through the concrete with small hisses as Six watched the brute begin to reload the spike rifle.

Then he took his chance.

Six managed to regain his footing getting up as quickly as possible before charging the ape with a sudden burst of speed that would make a Spartan-II raise an eyebrow, his fist clenched as he ran towards the ape. Before delivering a solid punch to the brutes abdomen, bone and muscle breaking under the weight of the fist causing the brute puking out purple blood as Six delivered another hard punch to the creatures temple, causing the aliens skull to collapse in on itself as brain matter covered his gauntlet.

The brute dropped dead as Six got back up and unloaded another magazine into the rest of the covenant troops running through groups of elites, jackals and grunts, his bullets cutting through the shields of elites and the methane tanks of the grunts. Who let out shrill death screams as the methane tanks on their backs exploded, burning their thin skin as they fell over dead.

As the dust cleared around him, he spotted the some marines, their armor emblazoned with the _Pillar of_ _Autumn's_ patch on their chests, which confused Six and Emile as they walked towards them, rocks and concrete crunching under his one ton armor as he spotted a marine sergeant talking with a group of marines.

"Sergeant what's going on here?" Emile asked as he walked up to an African marine Sergeant, Six taking up a position behind the other Spartan keeping one eye on his motion tracker and a finger on the trigger of his rifle as the marine sergeant turned to face the two super soldiers.

"The captain has decided to stay on planet sir, he has taken command of all remaining forces left on Reach, so we are rounding up as many as we can at the moment. The captain has also sent several squads out to round up food, medical supplies, weapons and vehicles so we are keeping the way clear for them to return." The sergeant answered as he looked up at the two Spartans, dirt covering his face as he held a BR55 battle rifle in his hands.

"Seem to be doing a pretty poor job at it Sergeant, judging by the fire we just pulled you and your men out of." Emile shot back with his trademarked sarcastic tone of voice he had used with Carter so many times before.

"Bullshit!" Yelled one of the marines behind the sergeant as he gave Emile a death glare.

"Shut up Kowalski!" The sergeant yelled back with a deep, booming voice. "I'll come back there and kick your ass myself if I hear you talk!" That seemed to shut the mouthy marine up as the sergeant turned back to face the two Spartans.

"You do know that this is in direct violation of ONI's orders sergeant." Emile said, ignoring the comment from the marine behind the sergeant, as he slid his shotgun onto the magnetic holster on his back.

The sergeant shook his head. "Listen son, all I know is the Captain wanted us to defend this spot until we can get as many off this planet as possible before we leave for good and I ain't one to defy the man's orders."

Six was surprised to say the least at what he was hearing, defying direct orders from ONI and UNSC highcom was high treason, punishable by death or at the very least life imprisonment and from what he had heard of Keyes this was very strange behavior for the Captain a man who had been following UNSC doctrine for almost his entire life.

"What the hell is Keyes thinking." Six heard Emile mutter over Noble team's private squad comm link as the other Spartan seemed to tense up in front of Six.

"Sir we got contacts coming over the horizon!" Yelled one marine, breaking the silence between the marines and Spartans as they all turned to spot a silhouette coming out of the sun.

"They squawking, marine!" Yelled the sergeant as he snatched the binoculars from the marines hands, peering through them as marine took a tacpad from his belt as the others began preparing their weapons for a possible air attack from the covenant.

"Well marine, are they friendly or not, I don't want to be shooting down a pelican full of civilians!"

"Scanning….I…...I am getting pelican transponder codes, call sign is Echo 395 sir." The marine said with a sigh of relief as he watched the dropship come into view, the underside of the troop transport was covered in plasma burns, no doubt from flying so low to the ground to avoid covenant air superiority.

"Good, let the hangar boys know." The sergeant replied with a sigh of relief that was echoed by the rest of the marines as they lowered their weapons, their bodies relaxing as they took up positions around the main loading ramp of the _Autumn_.

"Radio a pelican sergeant, I need to go talk to the Captain." Emile said with a hint of venom in his voice as he spoke, obviously annoyed by the Captains blatant disobedience of UNSC doctrine.

"Yes sir." The sergeant replied, getting onto the comm as Emile looked at Six with an annoyed expression that the other Spartan could see even through the polarized reflective visor that hid his face from view.

 _Pillar of Autumn_ \- 4 hours since the fall of Reach

Six walked behind Emile as the two Spartans made their way down the corridor from the _Autumns_ massive main hangar bay, passing by injured and shell shocked marines, police officers and civilians that had been left behind in the evacuation of Reach with many medics hurrying about. Attempting to treat the wounded and comfort the dying as the passed on.

They passed by several marine squads as they hurried outside to reinforce the squads defending the loading ramps that lead inside the _Autumn._ While other marines and naval officers began to store the equipment that had been begun streaming in from those who had heard the call Keyes had been sending out of over the remains of the UNSC comm network. Crates were being stacked and weapons were being stored in the armory as the two Spartans continued on their journey towards the bridge of the large Halcyon class warship, the sounds of vehicles and pelicans being stored in the vehicle bays deep in the superstructure of the ship echoing through the corridors as Six continued walking.

Checking the package attached to his armor for any damage, Six was surprised to find that the purple data crystal was unharmed as he walked through the titanium corridors along with Emile, his boots thumped against the metal floor of the ship as they approached the bridge the marine guards saluting as the Spartans passed through the open security door onto the ship's bridge proper.

"Noble Four, Noble Six, Welcome to the _Autumn_. Do you have the package?" Captain Keyes asked as the two Spartans approached the captain as he stood in front of the bridges tactical map holding out his hand for a second, before retracting the gesture when the two Spartans refused to shake his hand.

"Safe and secure, sir," Six said as he held out the cylinder, the chip inside emitting a purple glow as Keyes took it into his hands, the captain looking down at the cylinder with a gruff expression before looking back at Six. "Thank you Spartan, I must say it is good to have you two aboard."

"Sir, what's going on here," Emile cut in as he looked down at the smaller man, Keyes refusing to give any ground to the Spartan as he stared directly into the super soldiers visor, as if he knew the look Emile was giving him at the moment. "Orders were to leave planet after you received the package."

"I know this Noble Four," Keyes said coldly as he looked over at the Spartan-III glaring back at Emile as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Then what the hell are you doing?" Emile demanded as he looked back at the Captain, if his helmet had been off the Captain would have seen two green eyes staring directly into his.

"We are saving as many as we can Noble Four, I cannot in good conscience leave this many marines and civilians on this planet to die. I will not let Reach become a bigger disaster than Harvest was when it was glassed by the covenant, so we are going to be saving as many as we can no matter what," Keyes replied, his face hardening as he spoke with all of the experience he had gained through his service in the military.

"We have let too many die in an invasion we could have been better prepared for. But If you do not wish to help us that is fine, but I have spoken to my men and we are all willing to lay down our lives to rescue our brothers in need from certain death on this planet. So if you don't want to help us that is fine but stay out of our way!" Keyes yelled the last part, somehow managing to keep a calm stance as he did.

Six watched in awe as Emile seemed to back down a bit as the captain raised his voice, the Spartan-III stepping down as Six watched. It was almost like a father scolding his son for breaking a window with a rock, only this was a 7-foot tall super soldier being shouted at by a smaller captain.

"Very well, sir," Emile spat before walking off as Keyes turned to Six, his face stone cold as he sized up Six.

"What about you, Noble Six, will you help us?" Six nodded as he looked down at the captain, not willing to talk as he watched the Captain look down at the package in his hands.

"Good," he muttered as he held the cylinder in his hands, the purple glow died down a bit during their conversation. "We will wait to plug our new A.I. in," Keyes began as he set the container down by the main view screen, turning back to Six as he held his pipe in one hand. "We don't want her to take off prematurely until we have as many people as we can save before the covenant ships decide to deal with us once and for all."

Six nodded as he looked out the bridge windows, watching as far off in the distance the covenant ships glassed the planet. "Hopefully they plan on saving us for last sir." Six said as he watched the planet's surface turn to glass in the distance.

"That is my hope as well Spartan." Keyes replied as he followed Six's line of sight, looking out towards the flame filled horizon with a small sigh.

"But we've hit a problem you see, we don't have enough space on the _Autumn_ for all the marines and civilians we managed to make contact with. If we take to many onboard we will not be able to break orbit and then we are all screwed." Keyes said as he took his pipe and slipped it into his mouth before making his way to the tactical screen.

"So what's the plan Captain?" Six asked as he followed Keyes to the screen, the image of the map changing to what looked like the interior schematics of a human facility.

"I went digging through some old ONI files we had stored in some backups from sword base, it seems ONI had been hiding something near the base that they wanted to keep as secret as possible." The captain paused as if he was allowing Six to speak, but when the Spartan said nothing Keyes continued.

"From what I saw it is a top secret shipyard built when Reach became one of our main military colonies in the war against the covenant, it was built in secret of course incase of an attack such as this but from what I can tell from the more recent files it is still sealed with the ships inside." Keyes explained as he brought up several images of a large titanium door embedded in the side of one of the mountains near Sword base.

Six nodded as he listened to the captain. "How many ships are in the shipyard captain?" Six asked as he held his assault rifle in one hand.

"There should be one prowler and about two frigates, though some ONI spooks may have already taken one of the ships. I want you to take three pilots and a squad of marines with you on this mission Spartan, they will help you get the ships up and running"

Six nodded again.

"Alright, meet Echo 419 and the rest of your squad in hangar bay two."

Saluting the captain, Six walked off, his heavy boots thumping against the metal as he walked past many injured marines and civilians, their bandages soaked with blood and their clothing caked in dust as they tried to get over their shell shock. He passed by a squad of marines that seemed to be getting ready to head out and round up some more marine stragglers, a few of them looked over at Six as he moved through them. Their tired expressions reflecting back at them as they looked into his polarized visor before heading back to what they had been doing, many of them either stowing any extra equipment they had come across while trekking to the _Autumn_ or heading to the bunks for some sleep before the next catastrophe occurred. As he walked through the corridors of the ship Six's augmented hearing picked up the cry of a child as he turned a corner, spotting a male marine sitting down and leaning against the wall of the corridor, several scrapes and plasma burns dotting his BDU as he held a young baby in his arms.

"Shhhhh shhhhhh its ok little guy, you're safe now and the doc should be able to see you soon." The male marine whispered as he looked down at the baby in his arms, the child letting out another wail as the marine attempted to rock him in his bruised and battered arms, tears rolling down his face as Six watched. "I know little guy, I know you want your mommy and I know you're hungry." the marine said as he shook in his little corner as Six began to make his way past the two, not bothering to speak as he watched the marine attempt to comfort the child as he lay against the gun metal grey wall. "I'm sorry buddy, but mommy isn't gonna be coming back, she…...she is in a better place now, away from this hell hole." The marine continued, ignoring the Spartan as Six walked by, his boots thumping against the titanium floor as he heard the child cry out again as he turned a corner, spotting the large door leading to one of the _Autumn's_ hangar bays.

Passing through the door Six felt a rush of air against his armor as he looked at the large hangar bay in front of him, the hangar bays door was open with a stream of dropships and falcons coming and going from the ship almost every minute as Six made his way towards the landing platform assigned to his marine squad, the sounds of jet engines and helicopter blades echoing throughout the large hangar as he made his way towards the pelican.

He spotted a group of marines standing by a pelican, weapons cradled in their hands or, his armors onboard computer identified them as the squad he was assigned to for this squad was mixed, several marines and a few ODST's all sitting on or by the pelican as they waited for him to show up.

"Where the fuck is that Spartan?" One marine muttered as he sat on the loading door of the dropship, checking his MA37 assault rifle again, making sure the weapon was clean and ready for action.

"Shut up Mendoza," another ODST said as he sat on the hard metal floor of the hangar bay, attaching a silencer to his SMG, the trooper making sure the attachment is secure to the weapon as Six walked up the squad, all of them standing up and giving him a tired salute.

"Sir, I'm Lieutenant Anderson." A younger trooper, seemingly fresh out of officer school, with his black helmet secured on his head, said as he held out his hand for the Spartan to shake.

Six ignored the gesture as he looked over the troopers, their armor was dented and covered in dust from the sand storms that had ravaged reach ever since the covenant had begun glassing the planet so many days ago. A few of them had some minor burns littering their armor though most of it looked to be cosmetic damage, Six still made a note to keep an eye on some of the more sever looking burns. If the troopers armor gave out on them in the middle of a covenant firefight then with no shields to protect them they would be cut down like sheep to the slaughter.

Six nodded. "Alright lieutenant, mount up we are heading to this secret shipyard."

With that the Marines and ODST's loaded up into the pelican's blood tray, stowing their gear away as the pelican's door shut behind them, the engines letting out a low hum as the pilot started the takeoff sequence. After he had stowed his assault rifle away, Six made his way to the cockpit.

"Welcome to the cockpit, sir," the female pilot said as she positioned the pelican near the now open hangar bay doors, the inner doors were now closed behind. "May want to hold onto something,"

As Six sat down in the co-pilots seat the pelican lurched forwards, the throttle on full and the engines rocketing the dropship forward. Banking to the right, the pelican rocketed off towards the hidden shipyard. Six leaned back in the chair as they flew through the air, his eyes slowly closing as they flew, his augmented bones aching from the many kilometers of travel and the abuse Six had subjected them two over the past few days, leaning back in the co-pilots chair as he felt the pelican begin to lift off of the ground.

 **1 hour later**

Six woke when someone hit the back of his chair.

"Wakey, wakey Spartan, we are here," Private Mendoza said as he looked down at the Spartan, the ODST trooper hiding a smirk under his helmet as he walked out of the dropships blood tray and onto the sandy, glassed surface of Reach. Six felt his head throb as he woke up, his eyes blinking under his helmet, hidden by his polarized visor as he got up from the co-pilot seat, his boots thumping against the titanium reinforced floor of the pelican . The metal under him creaking a bit as he walked out of the cockpit, grabbing his assault rifle before jumping out of the dropships blood tray and onto the dusty ground below. The marines had already secured the rocky area around them their rifles at the ready for any covenant scouts still on the planet attempting to mop up any remaining UNSC stragglers that had not made it to the protection of the _Autumn_ , the fields in front of them were covered in dust and fire as they stood there for a second, scanning the horizon for any signs of movement.

"I don't see nothing boss, guess this is one place the covvies have not found." Mendoza said as he scanned the horizon with a sniper rifle, handing the large anti-material to lieutenant Anderson. The lieutenant looking through the scope of the high caliber sniper rifle before nodding and speaking over the comm.

"Alright squad get your asses inside, let's get these ships up and running," the lieutenant said as he handed the rifle back to Mendoza as Six took point, being the most heavily armed soldier here it only made sense that he went first into what could end up being an ambush. the other marines following him in as they held their weapons tightly in their hands, the spot lamps from their assault rifles making the dark hallway look eerie.

"Someone get the emergency power," Anderson ordered as he walked behind Six, his hands gripping his shotgun as he looked around. "You see anyone alive Spartan?" He asked as he looked around.

Six shook his head as he looked down at the motion tracker on his HUD, they were the only ones here. The lights above the flickered and turned on, revealing a very sickening sight. One that even bothered the hardened marines taking up Six's rear as he shone his flashlight down the concrete reinforced hallway in front of the large squad of battle hardened warriors. Blood stains and bodies littered the walls of the bunker, some men looked as if they had been ripped apart limb by limb before being eaten. Others had massive holes cut from their chests and torsos.

The silence was almost deafening, even with the roaring wind outside and the small tremors caused by the covenant glassing beams as they burned the planet's surface. They all knew who did this as the squad looked over the pile after pile of ONI and marine corpses in front of them.

"Covenant must've breached the blast door before it could close, damn ONI never stood a chance." Commented Mendoza as he looked at the bodies, a frustrated look hidden by the ODST's visor as Six nodded.

"Alright squad, you know the deal. You see a covvie you shoot to kill as many as possible, we have civilian lives counting on us now let's move out." Anderson Said in a hushed tone as he took up a position beside Six, his weapon pointing down the hall as they began to move. Stepping over the many human corpses that littered the hall, blood soaking their boots as they made their way deeper into the building.

"Ok, anyone else here thoroughly creeped out?" One marine asked as he looked around, his gun shaking in his hands as they turned another corner.

"Shut up O'Brian," Mendoza scoffed as he made his way to the front of the pack, his SMG pointed firmly forward.

"Fuck you Mendoza, look what happened to those ONI spooks back there, some of the best training in the world couldn't protect them against whatever the covenant sent down here, what the fuck are we supposed to do." O'Brian shot back with an angry snarl as he looked at Mendoza with fire in his eyes. "It was probably fucking zealots that carved through those men, in which case we are fucking fucked."

"O'Brian, Can it." Anderson shot back in a hushed tone as the squad continued moving through.

"But Lieutenant, we are walking into a death sentence here, we should call the mission here and just go back to the _Autumn_." O'Brian continued, the nervousness in his voice clear as day as the rest of the squad began to ignore him as they moved through the bunker.

"Clear," another ODST said as they passed another hallway, before coming to a large door, marked hangar bay.

"Maybe the covenant left already." Mendoza said in a hushed tone as the squad scanned the area they had just passed through with their flashlights, making sure no covenant forces they might have missed were sneaking up on them.

"We aren't that lucky Mendoza." Another marine commented.

Six, reached out and touched the console near the door, the panel lighting up as it recognized the microchip imbedded inside his palm, the computer running through the ONI ID database within the bunker before beeping as it found Six's access credentials. The door shuttered and let out a grinding noise as the door opened up the red lock light turning green as it did, revealing two Charon-Class light frigates and one Paris-class Heavy frigate, each of them proudly named _Dauntless, Pegasus and Hornet_. The ships were like beacons in a storm as the marines stared at them, they were surprisingly undamaged given that the covenant had found this base and killed the rest of the occupants, the aliens must have thought that destroying the base was to much trouble given that the entire planet would be glassed in due time. Six couldn't help but grin just a little bit under his helmet as he saw the vessels.

Maybe they would make it out of here in one piece with the _Autumn._ Turning around Six faced the squad of marines standing behind him, there attention snapping back to reality as they turned their gazes to the Spartan-III.

"Alright men, one pilot per ship you know the drill let's get these ships back to the _Pillar Of_ _Autumn_ and he the hell out of here while we are still in one piece," Six ordered, the marines saluting him before getting down to work. "Echo-419 return to the _Autumn_ , we'll take it from here."

"Roger that, Sir. Foehammer out," The pelican pilot said, the sound of the dropships engines going supersonic could be just barely heard as it began to make it's way too the large Halcyon-Class cruiser still in the shipyard.

Six walked onto one of the Charon-Class frigates, the name UNSC Dauntless pridefully displayed on the side of the ship, lit up by spot lamps that made the white paint more visible in space. The engines started up as the pilot went through the manual take-off sequence of the small frigate, the engines letting out a low hum as the fusion process began. The large hangar bay doors opening. allowing the frigates out of their cradles as they began to slowly move forward one after another.

"Are these ships rated for atmo?" Yelled O'brian over the comm as the ships began to move forward, kicking up a lot of dust from the land below as they moved out of the secluded UNSC base.

"Let's find out!" The pilot said as he rocketed the ship forward through the air, the other two ships following them in as they pushed forward towards the _Autumn's_ drydock. They would be attracting a lot of attention very soon Six thought as he looked out the forward viewport on the bridge, the Spartan knew that they had to move fast now, or else they would end up like the rest of the people who died on this forsaken planet.

The _Dauntless's_ massive engines powering their small frigate forwards as the crew held onto anything that was attached to the floor as the ship pushed through the thick atmosphere of the planet. The other two frigates following close behind the lead Charon-class frigate as they continued on their course towards the UNSC drydock. Six only hoped that Keyes had managed to fend off the covenant forces with the _Autumn_ currently in dry dock.

"Pilot what's our ETA?" Six asked as he stood up, the magnetic soles in his boots keeping him from falling over as his body fought against the force of the ship moving forwards within the atmosphere.

"Should be there in about five minutes sir, I'm giving the engines all they got but they weren't designed to run in atmosphere like this." The marine responded as the Six heard the engines let out a small groan.

" **Hopefully we can keep it together for that long**." Thought Six as he felt the ship lurch again as they continued to rocket through the atmosphere at full speed.

 **5 minutes later**

The team had managed to make it back to the _Autumn_ relatively unscathed, though a few Seraph fights took a liking to their frigates, taking pot shots at them before they bugged out. The ships landed in the large clearing beside the _Autumn_ , their thrusters pushing back a lot of the debris from their makeshift assembly area. The pilot cut the _Dauntless's_ engines as the frigates landing struts settled in the sand below them as loading ramps and cargo elevators began to extend from the ships, so they could begin loading the rest of the supplies, civilians and marines they had managed to gather from the doomed planet.

As soon as they settled down the marines outside began loading the Pelicans, Warthogs and Scorpion tanks they had managed to recover onto the Frigates. A few squads that had been assigned to care for the civilians that had managed to make it to the UNSC drydock had begun to load their civilian charges onto the frigates via the loading ramps. Six made his way down the loading ramp himself passing by the frightened and confused as they made their way into the ships, several marines carrying weapon crates also passing by Six as he looked around.

The drydock looked like it had seen better days than today, much of the structure had been scorched with plasma from covenant seraph attacks, but luckily the massive mass drivers that dotted the rest of the drydock had discouraged the covenant from sending anything much larger than that into take out the _Autumn_. Though Six knew that it would not be long till they began sending bigger cruisers and carriers to try take out their small fleet while they were still in the drydock loading the survivors onto the ships.

They had to work fast and they all knew that some would be left behind, all they could do now was save as many as possible before the covenant decided to start hammering on their door.

Six continued to watch as weapons and people were loaded onto the ships, the hangar bay doors of the frigates opening to allow the pelicans, longswords and sabers they managed to save to land inside, from what Six could tell Keyes was really planning on taking everything he could before leaving Reach. Six couldn't really blame him, Keyes had no idea what they were going to face once they left the planet and the captain was not taking any chances with anything that might be useful. Six watched as a slightly damaged scorpion tank was loaded onto the _Dauntless's_ cargo elevator, soon to be loaded onto the ship itself. The tank didn't look like it could hold its own in a fight with covenant armor anymore, but while other commanding officers would have labeled the tank as a loss. Both Six and Keyes knew that the tank could be stripped for parts to repair the less damaged vehicles.

"Noble Six, Noble Six!" A voice called out to Six as he turned around to face whomever was calling for him.

He spotted a female marine running towards him, her armor scratched and dented slightly in several places as she sprinted towards the Spartan. Panting heavily as she stopped in front of the super soldier, her hands holding her knees for stability as she attempted to breath in the thick, hot atmosphere of Reach. Six said nothing as he watched the exhausted marine regain her strength, she must have been searching for him for a while judging by how much she was panting.

"What is it marine?" Jason asked in his monotone, uncaring voice as he looked down at the marine, the woman standing back up. Regaining her footing as she looked up at Six.

"Captain Keyes wants you on the bridge of the _Autumn_ sir!" The marine said as she gave Six a tired salute.

Six nodded. "Then lead the way marine." He responded as he felt the planet release another shake underneath his boots, the cries of several children echoing over the sounds of work coming from the marines as the tectonic plates under them shifted as the covenant continued to glass the planet with their hot plasma beams.

Six and his marine guide continued walking through the crowds towards a pelican dropship in the distance, the large troop transport sitting in a makeshift staging were cargo was being unloaded and redistributed amongst the ships so they could break orbit.

Six stepped into the pelican with his marine guide as the pilot closed the cargo bay doors of the dropship as Six entered, his boots tracking sand onto the metal floor of the pelican as it took off, the engines humming and kicking up plumes of dust and debris as began to make its way towards the _Autumn_ , the pilot had to navigate through the mess of air traffic that surrounded the _Pillar Of Autumn_ currently as the air traffic controllers in the hangar bays that dotted the ship attempted to coordinate with the pilots and organize the hangar bays so they could store the maximum amounts of supplies and vehicles before they took off.

Six felt the dropship lurch forwards as the controller gave the pilot the priority go ahead to dock inside of the hangar bay, the dropships engines letting out a low hum as they flew into the bay, the pelicans landing gear letting out a solid thunk as it extended, the dropships engines cutting out as they landed on top of a loading elevator. The elevator slowly lowering them into the vehicle bay proper.

Six stepped out of the pelicans blood tray and what he saw before him could only be described as organized chaos as deck chiefs ordered marines carrying crates and driving vehicles on where to store said supplies. The whine of pelican engines and the low hum warthog engines echoed throughout the hangar bay as Six followed the female marine.

They passed by several marines storing a crate filled to the brim with food supplies with the others, walking through a massive doorway that led into one of the many corridors that ran through the ship's superstructure as Six let out a sigh inside of his helmet. Most of the men now seemed to be just going with it now, not caring whether they lived or died but jumping at a chance to give one last middle finger to the covenant.

Injured marines lay in the hall, some resting while medical teams attempted to treat their wounds with whatever they could find, while others were sealed up in body bags. They couldn't bury them on Reach with the covenant around , so they would be brought to the next UNSC planet they docked at and put to rest finally.

Six continued walking behind the marine as they passed by squads of marines and deck officers as they went about their duties at a frantic pace as Six made his way to the bridge. Soon they came to the bridge, the female marine saluting as Six walked passed onto the command deck, his boots thumping against the metal floors as he watched bridge officers work away at their different stations, completing their assigned tasks as Six made his way to the Captain.

"Mission successful, Sir," Six said as he stood at ease in front of the older Captain, his assault rifle now attached to his back as be looked down at his commanding officer.

"Excellent work Spartan, but now we have very little time. Our little stunt has probably attracted more than a few Covenant ships and I bet they will take any chance to stop us from escaping," Keyes explained as he took his pipe out of his mouth.

pointing the mouthpiece at Six. "Here are your new orders. You and Noble Four are to assist the marines in loading up as much as we can onto the two frigates. The _Autumn_ should be able to take the majority of civilians that arrive here, so your two frigates are tasked with carrying supplies."

Keyes turned to the view screen as it changed to a satellite image of a town nearby. "I already have several marine squads and three Pelicans scouting the remains of this town for food and medical supplies, once they get back you are to load it up onto the frigates, as much as you can."

"When's our launch window sir?" Six asked as stood behind the Captain, watching as the man fiddled with the controls on the view screen. The images on the screen changing to an image of Reach's atmosphere with several covenant ships orbiting the planet.

"Our launch window will be through this weak point our sensors have found in their blockade around Reach, the _Autumn_ will be on point with her MAC cannon fully charged, she will be taking the brunt of the fire as the frigates make their way into slipspace." Keyes explained as Six nodded, watching the simulation on the view screen with his keen augmented eyes.

"Once the frigates are away the _Autumn_ will quickly follow through the collapsing slipspace portal." Keyes said as the simulation on the view screen ended, the screen returning to its default state as Keyes turned around. "The plan will need to be executed quickly and without error, I want us all to regroup on the other side with minimal loss of life." Keyes said in a serious tone as Six nodded. "Yes, Sir." The Spartan said as he saluted.

"You are dismissed Noble Six, evac will begin in about an hour so be ready for the call." Keyes said before turning back to his command console, his hands clasped firmly behind his back as Six walked off the bridge.

 **Outside - 15 hours since the fall of Reach**

"Command this is Kilo 68, I've spotted covenant CCS-Battlecruisers heading our way over." Keyes flinched as he heard the call come over the loudspeaker on the bridge. **"It was only a matter of time."** He thought as he walked towards the command console, picking up his comm piece. "Kilo 68, fallback to the _Autumn_ ," he ordered, before cutting the comm line and turning to face the officer operating the comms console. "Comms, patch me into the battlegroup." Keyes ordered as the bridge crew began to work as fast as they could, their pace more frantic than before as they raced against the clock to get the _Autumn_ ready for launch.

"Your good, Sir!" The officer replied, holding up his thumb as he yelled.

"All hands this is the Captain, we are abandoning Reach. I want all decks at combat alert alpha." Keyes ordered over the comm, the crackling sounds of officers radioing back in the affirmative coming over the loudspeaker as Keyes felt his heart begin to race.

It was all or nothing now.

With that, he cut the line to the battlegroup, his breathing quickening as the bridge crew began to go through the _Autumn's_ take off sequence. The engines began to hum as the call went out the remaining stragglers out on the planet's surface, letting them know the _Autumn_ would be leaving soon and this was their last chance to get to the ships. Pelicans and Marine teams were being recalled as the ships began their priming sequence, their engines letting out a loud hum as the small frigates loaded the last of the supplies into their cargo holds.

 **25 minutes later**

It had been twenty five long minutes, but they had managed to get every pelican and marine squad back onto the _Autumn_. Her engines were primed and ready for takeoff and the crews of the three frigates had sent the 'systems green' signal to the captain, their engines primed and ready for launch as Keyes looked out of the forward view port on the bridge.

"Helm, get us out of here," ordered the captain as he clasped his pipe in his hands as the engines fired. The _Autumn_ shuddering as it complied the external thrusters mounted to her hull firing as they lifted the Halcyon-class cruiser out of the drydock and into the air. The ship's new engines propelling the ship forward as the external thrusts began to fall off of the _Autumn's_ hull, crashing into the planet below as the main engines of the _Autumn_ were pushed to full power. The large halcyon-class cruiser rocketed forward, followed by the frigates _Bismarck_ , _Winter's Wrath_ , and the _Dauntless._ Removing the data chip from the ONI cylinder, Keys inserted it into the holotank as they broke through the atmosphere. A purple A.I. appeared almost immediately, her eyes opening as she integrated with the ship's systems.

"UNSC Smart A.I. Cortana online and ready for duty." The small holographic woman said as she opened her eyes and looked at the captain. As she did this the proximity alarm on the _Autumn's_ bridge went off as the exterior sensors detected several covenant CCS battleships approaching the Halcyon-class cruiser.

"Weapons, I want a status update on the MAC cannon." Keyes ordered as he looked down at the A.I.

"Rounds are loaded and charged sir! Ready to fire on your command!" Responded the weapons officer in a panicked tone as they approached the covenant ships attempting to block their path.

"You have the MAC cannon Cortana, I want you to clear us a path through those ships." Keyes ordered as he looked down at the A.I. the woman giving him a soft smile before responding.

"Of course captain, cannon charged and ready to fire…...firing." As she said this Keyes felt the superstructure of the _Autumn_ groan as the cannon fired, the massive shell flying out of the cannon's muzzle at four percent the speed of light, driving its way towards the closest covenant cruiser with a flash of light. The round punched through the cruiser's shields like they were paper, the shell traveling through the ship's hull, ripping through the armor before piercing the ship's reactor core.

A massive explosion soon followed as the covenant ship's reactor went critical, the cruiser's hull crumpling in on itself as the reactor let out a huge ball of blue and white plasma, cooking the shields of the ship's next to it as the _Autumn_ repositioned its main gun for its next shot. The small Paris and Charon-class frigates following closely behind the Halcyon, their own MAC cannons firing their much smaller shells at the covenant corvettes blocking their path.

The _Autumn_ let out another shudder as its MAC cannon let out another shell of concentrated kinetic energy. "Cortana, ETA to slipspace jump!" Keyes yelled as the _Pillar Of Autumn_ began to take covenant plasma fire, the superstructure and titanium armor of the ship shrugged off the intense heat of the few rounds that managed to make contact.

"Just a few moments captain, the frigates are out of Reach's atmosphere and are executing their jump." The Smart A.I. replied in an almost frantic tone as her systems began to take over the point defense turrets that dotted the ship's hull as they approached the covenant blockade. The fifty millimeter cannons spitting out hundreds of rounds per minute as covenant fighters began to swarm the _Autumn_.

Some fighters tried to pass by the _Autumn_ in an attempt to take on the frigates the large ship was protecting, but they were quickly put down by the cruisers defense turrets as a slipspace portal opened up in front of the smaller UNSC ships. The frigates pushing their fusion powered engines to the absolute maximum in a race against the clock to make it into the portal before the covenant managed to get through the _Autumns_ defensive line.

The _Autumn_ shook once more as its MAC cannon took a pot shot at a massive covenant CSO-class super carrier that was baring down on the Halcyon, the round leaving the muzzle of the massive coil guns as it traveled through space at a fraction of the speed of light. But even at such speeds the round just glanced off of the ships shielding, deflecting off into space as it hit the curved front of the carrier. The sheilds flickered slightly from the shot, but they continued to hold even as the Autumn fired another shot, striking the super carrier directly in the center mass.

"Recharging MAC gun sir!" The weapon officer yelled as Keyes watched the carrier launch another wing of fighters, the Autumns own longsword and Saber wings flying out too meet the enemy in combat as dots of light began to appear in the inky blackness of the space in front of the bridge, each light signafying a burst of energy that was leaving the weapons of one fighter in order to take down another. The _Autumn's_ own point defense cannons took out the fighters that managed to make it past the UNSC fighter squadrons, the comms were a mess with chatter as the pilots attempted to form an effective defense for the _Autumn_ even with their tiny numbers compared to the massive armada that was currently occupying Reach. They did their best though and fought valiantly against the hordes of covenant fighters who began to pick them off one by one.

Keyes couldn't help but flinch a bit as he saw a burst of purple energy, indicating another of the UNSC fighters had gone down in flames protecting their escape. The captain did not like having to throw his men against the enemy hoards like this. But he did not see any other option in order to protect their escape, no people would die here on Reach and never live to see the light of Earth.

"MAC Reactor is hot and ready Captain!" The weapons officer reported as Keyes looked down at the holotank.

"Take that ship down Cortana." Keyes ordered in a flat tone as he gripped his command station, feeling the modified Halcyon-class cruiser shake once again as its coil gun fired another massive slug. This time the CSO-super carriers sheilds were hit directly, causing them to flicker before going offline as the round punched through and peirced the super structer of the ship. But it did not go through, due to the massive size of the super carrier,Feeling another shudder rock through the superstructure of the vessel, Keyes gripping the command console as he watched the round leave the muzzle of the MAC cannon, surging forwards before striking a covenant CSO-super carrier directly, the massive ship's shields flaring once again as they were not fully charged this time when the desperated covenant commander raised them once again as it took the full force of the round punched through the barrier of light, tearing through the hull of the ship before striking the CCS battlecruiser behind the carrier, the round glancing off the sheilds of the second ship before bringing them down with the massive amount of energy that was put behind the slug.

But the carrier was not finished yet, not by a long shot as its engines began to push it forward, the covenant ship slowly gaining speed as it pushed its way towards the _Autumn_. The ship trailing debris and bodies as it attempted to ram the smaller ship.

"All frigates away captain." Cortana reported as she directed the point defense turret fire forwards, the fifty millimeter cannons striking the vessels hull with hot rounds in an attempt to slow it down. The _Autumn_ rocking as several plasma rounds hit the ship's hull.

"Cortana, get us out of here!" Keyes yelled as a plasma torpedo exploded near the command center, causing bridge alarms to blare as the halcyon began to make its way to the collapsing slipspace portal at full speed, the super carrier trailing behind it.

The A.I. turned to him and smiled. "Of course captain." She said as she directed all power to the fusion engines, pushing the ship's engines to the limit as they sped towards the portal at break neck speed.

The _Autumn_ managed to make it into the portal before it collapsed in on itself, Keyes couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he felt the portal tug them into its gravity well. The portal soon closing behind them but before it could close completely, the supercarrier behind them manage to get half way in before the slipspace portal completely closed around it, cutting the massive ship in two as it began to hurtle towards the Autumn at FTL speeds. The portal must've damaged the covenant ship's drive core because as it began to close in on the _Autumn_ at an almost breakneck pacethere was a sudden explosion that enveloped the remains of the carrier.

"Assessment!" Keyes yelled as he watched the scans on the view screen, the shock wave from the slipspace explosion moving in on the Autumn as they rocketed through FTL.


	2. Chapter 2

**enjoy and criticize that is how you grow as a writer.**

Three weeks after slipspace incident.

Keyes felt the mossy ground beneath his boots give slightly, it was somewhere around fifteen thirty as he walked through the base camp the UNSC survivors had managed to set up on the planet they had discovered after their blind slipspace jump had shot them god knows where. Keyes watched out of the corner of his eyes as the marines unloaded the equipment from the three frigates that had landed on the surface of the planet. Crates were being opened and equipment was being set up as Keyes strolled through their perimeter the marines had set up in the large clearing they had landed in. The sounds of pelicans flying overhead brought Keyes out of his thoughts as he looked up, spotting a drop ship carrying a section of a radio tower overhead and outside of the clearing.

It had been like this ever since they landed on the planet, many of the marines had been either working non-stop on setting up the base camp and housing. Either that or they were on patrols, mapping out the planet and finding sources of water, food and minerals that they could use if their stay on the planet became more long term.

As much as all of the men and civilians wanted to get back to the UNSC, they all had to admit that the silence and peace was nice for once. Even Keyes had to agree as he felt the sun of the small system they were in peak over the horizon, the light of the sun washing over his body as the heat warmed him up. Keyes couldn't help but smile slightly as he looked around, the sunlight bathing the surrounding area in bright light, allowing the color of the plants to stand out even more as Keyes continued walking the entire area now looking a bit more lush in the afternoon light.

The sounds of tree's cracking could be heard from the far end of the clearing as marine volunteers began to chop wood for civilian housing and to make room for the equipment and tents they still needed to unload from the _Autumn_ and the frigates. Keyes couldn't help but let out a sigh as he thought back to Earth, he only hoped the other ships managed to get back to the homeworld to help bolster the defenses of their last stand, if it hadn't already happened. For all Keyes knew, they were the last humans in existence at this point in time and if that was the case then they would need to start thinking about plans for the continuation of the human species as well as continuity of government and it would also mean he was the highest ranking UNSC officer currently alive. Which would make him the defacto leader of the entire UNSC at this point in time. Leader of their entire remaining military forces, which at the current point in time consisted of about four ships, a few thousand marines and civilians and everything they managed to salvage from the shipyard as well as what was brought in by the marines they saved from the burning planet of Reach.

And then there was the fact of Earth.

It was not a situation he wanted to be in at the moment, but the facts spoke for themselves. The covenant found Reach easily enough and that planet was on the doorstep of Earth, all the aliens needed was a few more lucky jumps and they would be at humanity's homeworld. Once they found it, Keyes had not doubt that it would be a complete and utter slaughter where humanity was the sheep and the covenant were the wolves ready for dinner. A few ships might make it out, but they would have nowhere to go then, the UNSC would be fragmented with no center holding it together and with nowhere to go the ships would just drift forever through space until the covenant managed to hunt them all down.

He could only hope that maybe some ships managed to survive the slaughter and get out of UNSC space, maybe find a new place to settle once again and begin a new where the covenant could not find them. Then after generations of peace, maybe the covenant would forget about them and they could finally live in peace after years upon years of constant war with the different alien races that composed their enemy. Maybe humanity could flourish once again amongst the stars, past the red line of UNSC space and into the unknown reaches of space where they could live without fear.

"Live without fear." Keyes muttered as he looked around the base camp, watching as several marine engineers further away began setting up groundside long range sensor equipment for what would soon become a makeshift airstrip for the surplus pelicans and falcons they possessed at the moment as those three words continued to resonate in his mind. To live without fear was something that seemed so foreign to him at this moment in time.

He was born thirty years before the covenant had began their systematic destruction of the human race and even then humanity had not known much peace due to the threat of insurrectionist attacks and bombings. If you lived on the mid or outer colonies you always feared to hear alarms blaring signalling another attack or bombing that most likely cost hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.

It had been a long time since they had known any kind of lasting peace. But on this planet one could not help but feel safe, it was like there was a kind of energy surrounding all of them when they landed on the planet though scanners could not detect a thing, but Keyes could feel it in his body and the back of his mind. It was like a tiny whisper of light that seemed to infect the thoughts, the energy seemed to want to draw him to this planet and have him and the rest of the people who had landed on it stay. Almost as if some unknown force wanted them to stay and protect the planet itself. It was a very strange feeling and one he knew many of the marines and refugee's also felt judging by the whispers he heard on the _Autumn._ Whatever it was, it has begun to affect the crew. Many of them felt as if this planet was a second chance for a life for them in the weeks since they arrived here. Even Keyes had to admit the proposal was a very tempting one, the planet seemed to be catering to their needs they had resources, food and freedom from the covenant threat.

But it wasn't UNSC space and whether he liked it or not Keyes still felt his duty to Earth in the back of his mind, whispering at him. Ordering him to find anyway to get back home and protect the cradle of humanity. No they would not stay on this new planet for longer the necessary

Keyes shook his head as he came to a grassy hill, there was no sense in dwelling on things he could not control now. He had to focus on the here and now or else they would never live to find out if they won the war or not. Shaking his head once again in a vain attempt to clear his mind for the road ahead. Keyes turned around and surveyed the clearing he had just walked through with his green eyes as the marines below continued their work on the camp, setting up tents and salvaged equipment. Stripping whatever they could not repair for parts to use on things that they could repair, falcons and pelican squadrons flew overhead scouting the surrounding area from the air as well as providing reports to the ground recon teams that dotted the landscape of the surrounding area.

The sounds of heavy machinery echoing throughout their little haven in the universe for the moment as Keyes watched the work from his perch. Looking up he spotted the outline of the _Autumn_ followed closely by her escort ships Pegasus and Hornet. The two frigates orbiting the planet in formation with the _Autumn_. Watching over the UNSC base camp below them like a mother hawk over her nest. Looking back at the camp, Keyes observed as a pelican hovered near their makeshift airstrip a massive mass driver they managed to salvage from the shipyard back on Reach attached by a cable as the dropship began to slowly lower its payload towards the ground, a group of marines below using their comms to radio the pilot maneuvering directions as they slowly placed the mass driver at the end of the runway.

The captain clasped as his hands behind his back as he surveyed the landscape before him, he had to admit so far this planet was very beautiful with rolling hills and thick forests as far as the eye could see, with plenty of plant life and native animals to keep them going for a long time. If this planet had been in UNSC space during the height of humanities empire, then it would have been slated for settlement almost immediately due to its lush environment and after colonization it would've most likely become another military stronghold for the UNSC's outer colonies. With ships, weapons and men being brought here to train and supply the military's strength.

"We were lucky." Muttered Keyes as he continued to watch the work below, his mind still deep in thought as he did. To say they were lucky was a massive understatement on his part, the fact that they managed to find a habitable planet after a blind slipspace jump that went wrong was nearly in the negative percentiles, almost next to impossible and if they attempted to replicate the situation that brought them here in the first place Keyes had no doubt in his mind that it would most likely lead to the destruction of their ships. But it wasn't something he wanted to question right now, at this moment they were here and it appeared that they were staying until they managed to find a way back to UNSC space and Keyes was content with that for now.

It was strange though, it was almost as if there was some sort of energy or force that wanted the UNSC forces to stay on its surface. Keyes had been feeling it ever since he set foot upon the surface of the planet, it was almost as if the planet were calling to him. It felt almost like a whisper in the back of his head, asking him to stay there with his crew to protect the planet and whatever is on it. The captain had been chocking it up to stress so far, but now that he was on the planet he could feel it flow through him like a river through a forest, it sent a shiver down his spine. All he could do was brush it off and try to push it too the back of his mind as he looked back out around the base camp, watching as the volunteers continued their hard work of setting up communication and sensor equipment. But it was still in the back of his mind, this small whisper that asked him to follow it into the woods, to where Keyes had no idea and he did not want to find out this day. Shaking his head Keyes continued on his walk, passing by several marine engineers as they attempted to strip a broken down scorpion tank for its armor in order to build more barriers in between the prefab buildings.

"The men could use a break after Reach." Keyes muttered under his breath as if he was trying to rationalize the situation in his own mind as he began to make his way back down the hill, the grass compressing under his black leather boots as he strolled back towards the camp. The fact was that they could all use a break, civilians and marines alike. The trauma of seeing their homeworld glassed was still fresh in everyone's minds some had to be taken off duty for a time in order to work through the PTSD from seeing such an act committed on their homes and cities. Keyes hoped this planet would provide them with some respite as they attempted to find a way home, as long as the covenant didn't come knocking. Keyes grimaced, they had been lucky so far but he knew the covenant were most likely out there looking for them as they hid.

Thankfully there was one fact about the small system they were in that kept them a bit safer than if they were on the run and that was the massive nebula that surrounded the system. The radiation from the Nebula wreaked hell on the ship's sensors when they jumped in and Keyes was hoping that it was the same of the covenant ships, but it worked both ways. If the covenant did find them, then the _Autumn_ would not be able to detect the ships until they were right on top of them, and then it would be too late their little nook in the universe would be burnt to the ground and what could be the last remnants of humanity would be destroyed along with the rest of their ships. That was why Keyes had longsword and saber squadrons patrolling the system around the clock for now, until they were sure the covenant was not coming back they needed to be on full alert and ready for any movement within the system that could signal an attack.

Strolling through the base camp as he began to make his way towards the _Dauntless_ the frigate resting at the far side of the camp was being set up as a makeshift hospital for the injured they had managed to save on Reach as well as a barracks for the marines to rest in. Making his way up the loading ramp and into the ship, Keyes passed by marine fireteams going out on patrol and volunteers carrying equipment outside. All of them looked at him with undying respect, his choice to save as many as he could brought him the praise of every marine and civilian they had brought onboard. They had been following his orders to the letter without question since they came to the planet and he had no doubt in his mind that these men and women would die for him if it came to that.

Even though he would technically be tried with treason if they ever got back to UNSC space, given that he defied the orders of ONI and UNSC highcom by staying on Reach longer than needed, if they ever made it home then he would have to face the music at some point in time whether it would be during or after the war he wasn't sure, all he was sure of was that he had no regrets from the choice he made because he knew in his heart that he acted with humanity, something the aliens would never understand and if HIGHCOM wanted to execute him because of that fact then they could go to hell as well.

Keyes let out a sigh as he made his way towards the hangar bay where his pelican was waiting for him, ready to take him back to the _Autumn_ at a moment's notice. "Cortana." He said over the comm piece in his ear as he continued walking through the gun metal grey corridors of the Charon-class frigate, passing by marines as he continued on his way to the hangar bay, the female voice of the A.I. coming in over the comm moments later.

"Yes Captain?" The A.I. asked as she responded over the earpiece.

"Any news from Noble or the Chief?" Keyes asked as he walked past the large doors and into the hangar bay, the marine guards saluting as he walked by.

"None so far sure, their last transmission was about twenty five minutes ago, they said they were about to investigate a cave with some promising mineral deposits." Cortana replied with a slightly worried tone in her voice.

"Try getting them on the comm, I want them back here ASAP." Keyes ordered as he stepped onto his personal pelican, the blood tray's door closing behind him as the pilot began the takeoff sequence.

"Yes sir." Cortana replied before Keyes cut the comm line, leaning back in the hard seat of the pelican as he felt the dropship take off, the motion causing his stomach to flutter a small amount as the pilot angled the dropship skywards, pushing the engines to full throttle as the dropship flew through the thick atmosphere of the planet.

 **Noble Six**

Six felt his back hit the side of the cave wall as Emile and Chief opened fire on the massive, hulking creature they found when they went deeper inside, the sounds of rifle and shotgun shells being fired reverberating off the walls of the cave as the massive bear like creature attempted to take a swipe at Six with it's claws. The creature was much larger than a bear and instead of fur it appeared to be covered in thick scales, though it still had the shape of the earth creature.

The beast's claws caused Six's shields to flare as it attempted to peel away the titanium plates that covered his entire body. But it was stopped as the shield around his armor flared again, causing the creature to jump back as the golden light flashed in the beast's eyes as Six delivered another punch that hit the creature directly in the chest, the cracking sounds of bones crushing beneath his fist reverberating through the cave as the Chief and Emile took a few more shots at the giant bear creature, which seemed to direct its attention away from Six for a minute as the Spartan delivered another punch to where he guessed the creatures kidney's were located. The augmented punch delivering a fatal strike to the bear creatures abdomen, Six's armored gaunlet breaking the tough outer layer of flesh, burying itself into the bear creatures body as it let out a stream of blood and bile from its mouth.

"Yeah thats right you fucking animal!" Six heard Emile yell as he delivered another shotgun blast to the creature's head, the pellets nearly grazing Six as he began to pull his fist out of the creature's abdomen. Blood and gore dripping from his fist into the pool forming below him as Six pushed the scaly body of the bear creature off of him, blood pouring from the gaping wound in the creature's abdomen as Six got up. Blood soaking his armor as he looked over at Emile, the other Spartan reloading his shotgun as Six walked over.

"You nearly clipped with there with your shells Emile." Six said in a cold tone as he walked past the other Spartan retrieving his discarded weapon as he walked passed the Chief who was busy scanning the cave for any minerals they could mark on the map for later retrieval working his way towards the mouth of the cave as the Chief and Emile followed him out of the cave, small rocks and gravel crunching under their boots as they made their way to the pelicans landing zone. The sound of a pelican dropship nearby allowing the Spartans to zero in on their LZ as they continued through the dense forest that seemed to litter the entire planet they were on with thick dense trees that made it very difficult for the marine scout teams to move across great distances. They had to hack their way through most of the underbrush in order to get their warthogs and scorpion tanks through.

They approached a clearing where a pelican dropship lay in the center, its engines primed and ready to go as the three Spartans stepped inside, Six feeling the gravity of the planet attempt to pull him back down as the ship lifted off. "You boys have a good time?" The pilot asked as the dropship began to fly towards the UNSC basecamp.

"Take a guess foehammer." Emile shot back as he looked up at the small camera holding his middle finger up to it as he chuckled, the camera looking over at Six as he sat down on one of the troop chairs inside of the pelicans blood tray, leaning back against the titanium wall as he took of his helmet, his gauntlets breaking the magnetic seal on the armor as a hiss of air could be heard emanating from it as the suit depressurized.

"Seems like you got caught in a bit of a scrape, huh lieutenant?" The pilot asked as Six began to clean the blood of his armor, wiping it with his gauntlet as the blood dripped onto the titanium plated flooring of the pelican. Leaving a pool forming at the feet of the Spartan as looked at the camera.

"Any word from Keyes?"Six asked not bothering to retort to the attempted joke, instead he acted like it passed right over his head as he resealed his helmet with the rest of his suit, the armor pressurizing as Six looked at the camera waiting for the pilots response to his rather rude tone.

"Y-yes sir, there was a communication from the _Pillar Of Autumn_ a few minutes ago, but I couldn't get much out of it. Something in the mountains around here is messing with the comm signal, might be magnetic for all I know." The pilot responded obviously thrown off by the Spartan's lack of interest in her comment as he continued to wipe the blood off of his armor.

"We better go see what the Captain wants." Chief said in his rough voice, Six nodding at him as the rather silent green armored Spartan finally spoke after a such a long silence.

"Yeah, something tells me he just wants to bitch at us for being out of contact for so long big man." Emile said in a sarcastic tone as the Spartan-III slid his combat knife out of its sheath, sharpening the blade on the titanium plates, his helmet hiding the man's expression as he seemed to look off into the distance as he sharpened the blade for what seemed like the thirtieth time in the few days they had been on this new, unknown planet.

"Foehammer bring us to the _Autumn._ " Six orders as he shakes his head looking over at Emile, his armor mostly clean of blood now as he feels the pelican begin to raise altitude, the dropships engines powering up as it began to break through the planet's atmosphere, the outer hull of the pelican glowing slightly as the engines were pushed to the limit as the three spartans felt their armored bodies being pushed back into their seats by the massive amounts of g forces.

Then finally the force seemed to dissipate as the dropship broke through atmo and into the almost welcoming arms of space flight, the proximity alarm in the pelican went off

 **Keyes**

Keyes stepped down from the blood tray of the pelican dropship as the engines of the ship began to cycle down as Keyes looked around the hangar bay. The bay was cramped and filled to the brim with supplies and vehicles, the sounds of pelicans taking off and landing echoing throughout the large hangar bay as Keyes made his way to the door, marines and deckhands saluting as he walked past them. All of them respected the Captain and Keyes knew that, he heard the murmurings that went on behind his back and Cortana, well the damn A.I. seemed to love keeping track of everything that was said on the _Autumn_ a fact that had embarrassed several of the crewman on the bridge multiple times since they jumped to this new planet.

"Welcome back Captain."

" **Speak of the devil."** Thought Keyes as he came to the hangar bay door, turning to face the holotube next to the door, revealing the avatar of the _Autumn's_ newest addition to her systems.

Cortana, the ship's A.I. both a gift and a curse from doctor Halsey. Though Keyes imagined that the doctor modelling the A.I. after her own body and mind was a deliberate attempt at playing with his mind while the intelligence was aboard the ship. "Hello Cortana, I take it the repairs are running smoothly?" Keyes asked as he unlocked the bulkhead in front of him, the large door sliding open as the keypad light turned from red to a light shade of green. The pressure door letting out a slight hiss as Keyes stepped through the door. Several marines with crates passing by him as he began walking down the large corridor, Cortana's voice now coming out of his ear comm as he continued on his way to the bridge.

"Well that's not a way to greet a woman, I thought Captains were supposed to be gentlemen." Cortana replied in a teasing tone of voice as Keyes continued to walk along the corridor towards the bridge, passing several more marine fireteams on their way down to the surface in order to give the civilians down there some form of security.

"An unfortunate lie that has been perpetuated by people who like to romanticize the war." Keyes replied with an unamused expression plastered on his face as he entered a lift, the doors closing behind him as it began to bring him up towards the command deck.

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine today, you know the men will notice that dark cloud over your head sooner or later." Cortana shot back as she spoke into Keyes's earpiece.

"I apologize Cortana, but in this situation the men will have to deal with it for now. We are currently an unknown amount of light years away from Earth, with no chance of resupply and little to no chance of getting back to UNSC space in our lifetime." Keyes spoke in a solemn tone as he stood rock still, not allowing his extremely taxed emotions and mental abilities at the moment.

"We can't have a captain under that much stress sir, you've been working for the past three days with little to no sleep." The A.I. replied with a concerned tone in her electronic voice as she appeared on the screen in the elevator, looking at Keyes directly with a concerned expression.

"I'm sorry Cortana, but that isn't up to me. I will do what I must for my men, in order to make them comfortable while we try to find a way to bring them back home in their lifetimes in order to defend their families from the covenant." Keyes sighed and lit his pipe as he spoke, puffing on the pipe as its contents lit up.

"And if we never make it back, what happens then sir. Do we just drift through space until we die, becoming a generational fleet of ships who roam the stars until the end of time."

"That's a chance we will have to take." replied Keyes as he took another puff of his pipe, the smoke filtering out of the elevator as the doors opened to reveal the corridor leading to the bridge, Keyes stepping out as he began to make his way towards the bridge, smoke still emanating from his pipe as he gave it a few more puffs as he walked along. Approaching the entrance to the bridge where the marine guards stationed outside of the door saluted as Keyes walked passed them, the captain giving them a nod as he walked passed.

The bridge was very dead as Keyes walked to his command position, standing near the large monitor in front of the thick windows that surrounded the front portion of the bridge. His hands clasped behind his back as he looked at the screen. "Any reports coming in Cortana." Keyes spoke, as he looked down at the holotube next to the command console.

"A few Captain, mostly supply reports and crew counts. We made it off Reach better then expected though, that's a relief as for supplies we have enough to last us about 2 years if we ration it correctly, though the medical supplies will most likely last us another 3 years if we are not caught in any massive engagements against the covenant again. Giving us plenty of breathing room in order to figure out a way home sir." Keyes nodded as Cortana spoke, glad to finally have some solid numbers.

Keyes stopped mulling over his own thoughts as he watched Cortana flinch in his peripheral vision, giving her a confused look as Keyes watched the A.I. grab her forehead as if she were in some form of pain. "Oh no, no, no, no!" She began to yell as Keyes watched her, his brow furrowing as he began to think of the one thing that could set the A.I. off like that.

"Cortana what's wrong?!" Keyes asked, his mind already knowing the answer as the A.I. seemed to clutch her head in distress.

"Slipspace rupture! It's the covenant!" Cortana seemed to yell to the entire bridge as alarms began to blare and red lights began to flash as Keyes looked out the forward window of the _Autumn,_ watching as the thing that they had all been fearing since they got to this planet appeared out of a slipspace portal in front of them.

A covenant corvette.

Unknown Space - Two Weeks Earlier - _Spirit Of Fire_

A large ship floated through space, her engines barely powered as she drifted along past planets and stars. An Obvious scar could be seen on her hull as she drifted along through the stars and if one had the right equipment a highly degraded message could be heard. "T-t-this is UNSC…... _Spirit Of Fire_ , we have…...Slipspace drive…...covenant….if any UNSC forces are hearing this, we are in distress and need assistance."

The long range sensors let out a ping as it sent out a long range broadcast throughout the nearby systems, waiting for a message that seemed to never come. Until now, suddenly a ping was heard back as a UNSC transponder appeared on the sensors, alerting the ship's systems to wake up the ship's A.I. as it locked onto the transponder and began to plot a course towards it.

Serina began to wake from standby mode as the ship's systems alerted her to the presence of another UNSC ship, she brought up the sensors data sifting through it as she looked for any discrepancies that may be signs of a trap. A sense of hope seemed to form in her data streams as she looked over the data again and again just to make sure, before finally deciding that it was accurate, her light blue avatar glowing as the ship around her began to power up for the first time in years, the dormant fusion reactor letting out a hum as the secondary reactor began to power down, lights flickered and turned on as the cryo bay deep inside the ship began the process of quick thawing the crew of the ship as Serina looked out the thick glass windows near her holotube, she couldn't see really but the ship's sensors allowed her a form of sight out into the abyss as she "watched" the stars pass by them. "Captain I found something." She muttered to herself as the ship finished it's power up sequence, the engines now at full power as it began to push its way slowly towards the weak signal that the scanners had managed to pick up as they drifted through space.

 **Cutter**

James Cutter fell to the floor as he came out of his cryo tube, his head felt like it had been through a meat grinder as he slowly got up, his black body suit standing out amongst the gun metal grey of the ships cryo bay, he had to concentrate to keep from throwing up on the deck as he looked around, he saw the other cryo tubes around him. Filled with the rest of the crew as they slept in the dreamless sleep of cryo. "Good morning captain Cutter." A familiar voice said to James as he spotted Serina standing on the holotube near the exit of the large cryo bay, her blue avatar glowing as she gave him a smile.

"What's going on Serina are we being rescued." Cutter asked as he rubbed the back of his head, his fingers passing over the neural interface imbedded in the back of his skull, the cool metal of the interface feeling out of place on his warm skin as he walked up to the holotube.

"Negative captain, but I found something you should see, if you could meet me on the bridge I can show you." The Smart A.I. said before disappearing from the holotube, leaving Cutter alone as he leaned against the cold titanium wall of the cryo bay, it felt as if his strength had been sapped from his body after so long in cryo his body felt stiff and weak as he pushed off the wall and began walking out of the cryo bay, leaning against the door as he typed his security code into the control panel, his muscles slowly getting used to being back in action as he walked slowly through the deserted metal hallways of the _Spirit Of Fire_. Cutter leaned against the metal wall of the hallway as he took another deep breath, breathing in the filtered air of the ship's life support system as he slowly began walking again, making his way towards his quarters. Finally making it to his quarters Cutter stripped the body suit off of himself, the rubber material peeling away as he pulled open his closet door and pulled out his uniform, still looking freshly pressed as he put it on for the first time after years of being in cryo.

" **I wonder how much time has passed?"** Thought Cutter as he finished buttoning up his shirt, stepping out of his quarters before closing the door behind him as he made his way to the bridge, his walking speed slowly increasing as his muscles got used to carrying his body weight again. Rubbing his chin as he passed through the bridge door Cutter suddenly felt like he was back home after a long vacation, everything was just as they left it as he walked along the bridge towards the holotube next to the communications console, were Serina was waiting with a smile on her face. "Hello Captain, nice to finally see you up."

Cutter wiped dust off the console in front of him, The UNSC device powered up for the first time in 20 years since they went into cryo sleep. He had to admit his was proud of the _Spirit Of Fire_ being able to last this long on low power without colliding with anything was a feat few ships could pull off without a bridge crew. "Serina, are we near any UNSC forces?" Cutter asked as he stood up, wiping the rest of the dust off of his command console before taking a step back into his captain's chair.

"No sir, we've just come near an unknown." Serina replied as she appeared on the holotube next to him, her blue, slender female avatar looking at Cutter as he sat back in his chair for the first time in the while.

"Put it on screen." He ordered as he leaned forward, his eyes fixated on the command console. A large space station appearing on the screen in front of him with what appeared to be a forerunner dreadnaught docked with it, he studied it closely. "What the hell am I looking at Serina?" Inquired Cutter as he looked at the large station that seemed to be orbiting a large sun came up on the screen in front of him.

"It appears to be an outpost of some form sir, initial scans show it seems to be of the same design of the structures we found on the shield world." Serina explained with a hint of disgust in her voice as her avatar looked at the image on the screen.

"Any Covenant ships in the area?" Cutter asked as his expression hardened as he was reminded of the last time they dealt with forerunner tech.

"Negative Captain, we are alone."

Cutter rubbed his temples as he went over the options they had, they were without a slipspace drive right now. The _Spirit's_ fusion plant could last a long time but if they wanted to get back to UNSC space then they would need a drive to get back to earth and this outpost was probably their best bet at the moment. "Take us in Serina and order Red Team to prepare to board." As Cutter said this the _Spirit's_ massive engines let out a low hum as Serina began to move on the station.

"Are you sure about this sir, the flood could be present in this station." Serina said with a hint of concern in her voice as the ship slowly began to move towards what appeared to be a docking port.

"I don't like it either Serina, but we need to atleast get our bearings and find a way to get back to the UNSC." The A.I. nodded as Cutter said this, but still she could not shake the feeling in the back of her 'mind', a feeling that they were not supposed to be here. She was shaken out of her thoughts as the ship came up beside the forerunner space station the docking clamps extending from the _Spirit's_ airlock, the clamps let out a groan as they latched onto the forerunner station, the green light above the airlock lighting up green as the airlocks seal was locked in place.

"Seal is good Captain." Serina said as she crossed her arms over her chest, the ships sensors began feeding her information about the outpost, she began probing the data centers of the station.

Cutter flinched as he looked out the bridge window of the _Spirit Of Fire_ , the larger space station dwarfing the _Spirit_. "Tell Red Team to move in Serina and tell professor Anders to meet me on the observation deck." Cutter ordered as he stood up, walking off the bridge towards the observation deck.

 _ **Spirit Of Fire**_ **\- Jerome-092**

Jerome stood at the entrance to the airlock his shotgun in hand as Alice and Douglas took up positions behind him. "Alright team, our orders are to secure this station and find an uplink for Serina, biohazard protocols are in effect for this mission if we find any flood contacts we burn em out with incendiary rounds." Jerome said as he snapped his shotgun onto the magnetic holster on his back.

"We know anything about the layout sir?" Alice inquired as she loaded a clip into one of her SMG's.

"Negative, we are in the blind here Alice." Jerome replied as he opened the airlock door, the heavy titanium door letting out a hiss as the air on the other side equalized with the airlocks air.

"Move, watch for hostiles." Jerome ordered as he grabbed his shotgun off his back as they began to move, their boots thumping against the metal of the airlocks tube as they made their way towards the entrance to the station.

The large door was glowing a soft blue color as Red Team moved towards it, the door letting out a soft beep as it opened for the three SPARTAN-II's. The three of the switching their helmet lights on as they entered the dark station, the only light sources inside were their lights and the soft glow of blue holographic interfaces. "Stay sharp, flood contacts could be present." Jerome muttered into his comm link as they turned a corner, his shotgun gripped tightly in his hands as he walked towards another door, Alice and Douglas close behind him as they explored the seemingly abandoned station.

"Sir I got a bad feeling about this." Whispered Alice over the comm as the three SPARTAN'S walked through the door, only to have it close and seal itself behind them. "Scratch that, I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Quiet." Jerome shot back as he scanned a hallway to his left, his boots thumping against the ground as the two SPARTAN'S behind him scanned the other corner. "Sir I think I found an access port here." Douglas said as he approached a console, the holographic interface lighting up in front of him as he walked towards it.

"Plug in, we'll cover you." Jerome replied as he took up a defensive position by a pillar near the console, scanning down the hallway for contacts as Douglas began his work as the other SPARTAN began his work Jerome contacted the _Spirit Of Fire._ " _Spirit_ this is Red Team, we've found a console and are preparing the uplink now."

The comm crackled for a moment before letting out static, Jerome tried to make contact again but all he got was hissing static from the other end. "Shit, alright Douglas hurry it up the comm line to the _Spirit_ is down." As Jerome said this the console began beeping, a hundred different things began happening on the screen at once before the console went dark.

"Jerome we may have a problem." Douglas said as he grabbed his SMG's from their holsters. The three SPARTAN'S took cover behind the beams in the hallway, the lights began to flicker on as they held their position near the console, the entire station seemed to hum as it came back to life.

"Suggest we head back to the _Spirit_ sir." Alice whispered as he aimed her SMG's down the hallway.

Jerome nodded and motioned for the other two to form up behind him, but as they did a soft humming could be heard from down the hallway. The three SPARTAN'S took cover again weapons at the ready as they heard the humming get closer and closer a soft orange glow appearing from around the corner as Jerome prepared to open fire with his shotgun. He didn't know what to make of what he saw next, a floating ball with an orange eye right in the center of it. "Oh hello." It said in an unnervingly cheerful voice. "I am 006 Redeeming Spark, I am the monitor of Installation L-426 and I must say I am delighted to see reclaimers here." The monitor explained in its cheerful voice as it approached the three SPARTAN'S.

Jerome kept his shotgun pointed at the floating robot as he activated his armors external speakers. "What is this place?" He grunted as he held his shotgun tight in his hands, the monitor seemingly unfazed by the weapons pointed directly at it. "This is a research station created by my makers to study the effects of dark energy, but during a test the slipspace drive on my creators ship malfunctioned while it was docked with us, the resulting bubble threw both us and the ship into what we theorized is a new galaxy since then all units have been in standby mode awaiting reactivation."

He was unnerved to say the least when the floating robot mentioned a new galaxy. "If you could please follow me reclaimers I can show you the relevant data if you wish." The monitor chirped as it began floating away. Alice came up beside Jerome as the three of them began following the monitor. "Sir, I think we should report back to the _Spirit Of Fire_ and let the Captain figure this out." She muttered as she looked at the monitor floating in front of them.

"Negative, not until we determine the station is clean." Jerome shot back as he sped up his pace to keep up with the monitor.

"Sir, we got contacts." reported Douglas as he aimed his SMG's down a hallway towards a group of covenant engineers. "Permission to engage?"

Jerome was about to give the order before the monitor chimed in. "No don't shoot they mean you no harm, these units are repairing damaged systems of the station, they have no affiliation to this covenant you speak of."

The SPARTAN'S all looked over at the floating ball simultaneously. "We've killed hundreds of these things, they've never tried to surrender." Jerome said as he kept pointing his shotgun directly at the group.

"It is possible they were enslaved by these beings you know as the covenant, the Huragok would not have resisted, they are programmed to be helpful." The monitor explained as Jerome looked at him unconvinced, but he stood down against his better judgement.

"Very well, lead the way."

The monitor machine let out a grateful hum as the SPARTAN'S continued to follow him, their boots thumping against the metal floor of the station as they passed through several glowing doors. "Are there any flood parasites on board?" Alice asked as she checked around a corner.

"No, we never had any contact with the flood, we were a remote station for a reason." The monitor chirped happily as they approached a large room, what Jerome guessed was the control room of the station.

"Here we are reclaimers, the control room now if you can just wait by the holoprojector while I bring up the data." The monitor said as the SPARTAN'S approached a large console in the center of the room, the console glowing blue as the monitor accessed its systems. "You should see the relevant data come up now."

Jerome watched as the holographic console in front of them changed to an exterior image of the station, all seemed normal except for the fact that the station was not orbiting a sun but a moon in this image. "What is this?"

"This is an external view of the station the moment the dark energy containment field failed." The monitor said as it shot a blue bolt at the console, the recording began playing as the SPARTAN'S stared at it nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until the recording hit the 2 minute mark. Then a massive black sphere seemed to expand and engulf the station and the ship that was docked with it, the sphere looked similar to a slipspace portal but there was one difference, The portal seemed to be blindingly white as it engulfed the station. The recording seemed to cut off into static there and Jerome was about to order his squad to move out, but then they saw the flicker of something an orange light and then the recording seemed to explode with colors that seemed to mix together in an endless swirling vortex before reverting back to the blackness of space. It all looked the same as before, except now the station was orbiting a sun.

"What the hell." Commented Douglas as he studied the image closely, the monitor floating closer to the three SPARTAN'S. "We theorized that the dark energy does not react well to slipspace radiation that the drives emit and if given the right circumstances it can cause a distortion effect that brought us here."

Jerome looked over at the monitor. "Then how did we get here, we don't have our slipspace drive anymore."

"Unknown, it could be that there was a build up of dark energy that caused you to come here a hole if you will that you may have slipped through, but without more relevant data I can only theorize."

Alice stepped forward. "What are the chances of replicating it?"

The monitor shook on the spot. "Unlikely, we have no evidence as to what the situation must be for the transit to occur, for now like me you and your ship are stuck here in an alternate galaxy."

"You gotta be kidding me." Jerome muttered as he looked over at Alice, the female spartan rubbing the back of her helmet as they all began to process this new information. "Captain is gonna love this."

An Alternate galaxy with almost no chance of getting back. It was a perfect FUBAR scenario, limited supplies and no allies to speak of or contact with the UNSC. All they could do now was drift around and try to either find a way back home, which according to this forerunner AI would be a next to impossible task that would most likely lead to the _Spirit Of Fire's_ destruction if attempted at all. Which only left them one other choice, continuing the UNSC in this galaxy somehow.

"Cutter ain't gonna like this." Douglas said over the comm as the three Spartans watched the monitor float in front of them, as if waiting for their specific instructions.

"Yeah well, we all knew the score when we followed the covies to that shield planet, anything could have happened and something did." Jerome shot back as he looked over at Douglas, nodding at the other spartan as he slid his shotgun into the magnetic holster on his back, the weapon snapping onto his armor as he looked back at the monitor, his expression hidden under his visor as he spoke again to the ancient machine.

"Monitor, did the slipspace drive survive the transit?" Jerome asked as he clipped his shotgun to his back.

"Yes, it should still be operational." The monitor replied in a cheerful voice, its eyeball light flashing as it spoke to the Spartan.

Jerome nodded. "Would the engineers be able to install it on our ship and repair the damage we took in battle?"

The monitor chirped. "Orders relayed, it will take about two weeks to install the drive and retrofit your ship, if you wish your crew may use the station while I oversee the repairs."

"Cutter and the Dr. are gonna have a field day with this." Douglas muttered as they began walking back towards the _Spirit Of Fire._

 _ **Spirit Of Fire**_ **\- Cutter**

Cutter stared in disbelief as he stared down at Red Team's report, looking up at the three SPARTAN'S and the forerunner machine they had brought with them. "So we have no way of getting back." He said in disbelief as he looked back down at the report.

"None sir." Jerome replied as he stood in front of the Captain.

"You know anything about this doctor?" Cutter asked his voice growing hard as he pushed his emotions down as Dr. Anders stepped forward. "None Cutter ONI has never studied the effects of dark energy when exposed to slipspace drives, the energy is so rare and synthesising it is a costly endeavour." Cutter nodded as he took a deep breath, coming to terms with what has happened to them. "We need to make contact with these aliens and humans ASAP, we need to find out if they know how to get us home."

"Sir, from what the monitor has said these people have vastly inferior technology." Jerome explained as he took a step forward. "The chances of them knowing what happened to us are nill."

Cutter nodded. "Then we find information, anything that could give us a clue of how to get back to the UNSC, I will not see my crew die without seeing their families again."

"We all knew this would be a one way trip when we followed the covenant to the shield world Captain." Anders said as she put a hand on his shoulder. "But we're alive at least, thanks to your efforts." Cutter nodded as she said this, his expression hardening they had a course of action that was more than nothing.

The monitor floated in front of the captain. "I will accompany you reclaimers if you will let me, the huragok and I have served no purpose since arriving here, It will be good to have one." Cutter nodded. "Everyone is dismissed except for the monitor, I want to know what the engineers are doing to my ship."

"Huragok." The monitor corrected in his cheerful voice. "They will be working alongside with the few sentinels we have onboard to repair your ship in our built in drydock."

"Very well huragok." Cutter spat as he leaned against the large table in the meeting room, Red Team and Dr. Anders left, the heavy pressure door sealing behind them as cutter looked out the small window near the table, the vast expanse of space before him. "So what are you doing to my ship."

Present time - Keyes - Pillar of Autumn

"Battlestations!" Keyes yelled as he watched the corvette in front of him finally exit its slipspace rupture. "Cortana bring the fleet up to combat alert alpha, alert all decks." Keyes ordered the A.I. as she gave him a nod as her voice began to echo over the loudspeaker system, that ran throughout the _Autumn._

"Attention all combat personnel, please report to your action stations." Her voice rang throughout the ship as the _Autumn's_ crew began to move to their battlestations, marine fireteams suiting up to engage any enemy boarders that attempted to take over the _Autumn._ Pelican dropships flying overhead as the ship was put on full alert for any inbound covenant forces, longsword fighters began being prepped for takeoff as the _Autumn_ prepared to unleash her full might on any covenant forces that might follow the corvette. The two frigates also launched their own smaller complement of fighters a mixture of longswords and salvaged saber fighters from Reach joining the _Autumns_ squadrons of sabers and longswords as they took up formations in front of the three UNSC ships, waiting for the corvette to launch its own compliment of Seraph fighters in order to engage the UNSC ships in combat.

But to Keyes's surprise the ship just drifted there, almost as if no one was currently home. "Cortana, what the hell is going on? Why isn't the ship attacking?" Keyes asked as he watched the corvette slowly drift towards the _Autumn_ , the ship appearing to have minimal power or control at the moment as Keyes watched, waiting for more slipspace ruptures to open as the corvette just drifted along.

"Sir, I'm not getting any transmissions from the covenant battle net, encrypted or otherwise." Cortana said as she scanned the ship with the _Autumn's_ sensor suite. "The ships engines are low on power and damaged severely…...wait." Cortana said as she focused on a particularly strange signal that appeared to be coming from the ship.

"I'm…...I'm getting UNSC transponder signals coming from the top of the ship, if I'm not mistaken they are saber fighter transponders." Cortana said in a confused tone as she looked almost dumbfounded from what she herself was saying at the moment.

"What!?" Keyes asked, almost dropping his pipe from his clenched hand as he watched the corvette continue to slowly drift towards the _Autumn_. Looking down at Cortana as her virtual form seemed to follow his previous gaze out the front window of the _Autumn's_ bridge. "Cortana try to open a channel with the corvette, but keep the squadrons on alert. If that thing tries anything I want it taken down." Keyes ordered as a squadron of longsword and saber fighters passed by the _Autumn_ , taking up a recon positions near the corvette which did not seem to be attempting to power up its weapons or engines in order to attack the fighters.

"Talk about a ghost ship." Keyes heard one of the crewmen comment as the entire bridge crew continued to give darting glances at the corvette incase it attempted anything as Cortana attempted to open a channel with the ship.

"Covenant corvette, this is the UNSC Halcyon-cruiser _Pillar Of Autumn,_ stand down and do not attempt to power up your weapons or engines. Boarding parties will sent to you shortly, any attempt to resist will be met with deadly force." The message was set on repeat as it was transmitted out to the corvette and Keyes could only hope that his hunch was correct as the entire crew seemed to wait, their breathing slowing down to a crawl as they waited for some sort of reply.

"Anything Cortana?" Keyes asked as he stood near the command console, his muscles tensed up as they awaited the reply from whoever was on that covenant ship.

"Nothing Captain, seems like no one is home…...wait." Cortana said quickly as she closed her eyes and held up her virtual hand as if signalling the entire bridge crew to wait as she attempted something.

Then suddenly a voice came over the comm system, full of static and other distortions as someone or something attempted to communicate with the _Autumn_. "Cortana try to clear up the transmission, I want to know what they are saying." Keyes ordered as he clasped his hands behind his back, his suspicions becoming more and more like reality as the static continued to play over the comm system.

"Compensating." Cortana replied as she attempted to clean up the signal coming from the corvette, then suddenly a signal with a very human voice came through the speakers loud and clear.

"This is chief warrant officer Jorge-052, code omega-delta 4453." A voice came over the comm, causing cheers to begin to echo throughout the ship as everyone heard the UNSC code over the loudspeaker.

Keyes couldn't help but smile a bit as he heard the voice over the comm, using the comm piece in his ear to reply as he watched the crew celebrate among one another. "Spartan-052 prepare to receive some visitors, do not attempt to power up your weapons or engines." Keyes ordered the soldier over the comm, before adding. "It's good to have you back Jorge, Halsey told me what happened over Reach."

"Likewise sir, did Reach survive though?" Jorge asked over the comm.

Keyes hesitated for a second, from what Halsey told him when he had access to the Spartan-II program. The Spartan was extremely protective of the planet and would most likely be devastated at its destruction. "I'll brief you on the current situation when your aboard the _Autumn._ For now I want you to stay put and wait for two old friends of yours, Noble Six and Noble Five are on their way to meet you."

"Roger that." Jorge responded before the connection was cut and the tense air that had been hanging over everyone on the _Autumn's_ bridge seemed to dissipate as it became clear that this was not a covenant invasion force, but yet another unfortunate slipspace accident.

"Cortana." Keyes asked as the bridge seemed to return to a form of calm as Keyes looked back down at the holotube.

"Yes captain?" The A.I. asked as her electronic eyes looked up at the captain, her hands planted firmly on her electronic hips as she gave Keyes a slight smile.

"What are the chances of two slipspace accidents dropping ships in the same place." Keyes asked as he felt something terribly off with the situation all of the sudden, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as his gut began to tighten a bit.

"Extremely low captain, almost nill in our situation given the fact that we performed a blind jump." Cortana said, her voice hinting that the A.I. had her own suspicions racing around in her processes as the two of them stood amongst the bridge crew.

"Tell Noble to be on the lookout for anything suspicious, if this is indeed the corvette from Reach, then maybe it could shed some light on how we got here and how we might get back home." Keyes ordered as he put his pipe back into his mouth, taking a rather large puff from the metal mouthpiece as he looked out the bridge window, his gaze never leaving the adrift corvette.

"Something doesn't add up here."


	3. Chapter 3

Six felt the pelican dropship shake slightly his MA37 cradled in his hands as the dropship formed up with two longsword fighters as it made its way towards the covenant corvette. The back of his heavy armor pressed firmly against the seat as the the fighter escort broke off from the pelican and began to circle the contained covenant corvette, watching it for any sudden movements from the heavily damaged covenant ship. Six had immediately recognized as the corvette that both he and Jorge had boarded in orbit over Reach in order to detonate their makeshift slipspace bomb near the carrier Long Night of Solace.

The mission had been one of the few successes of the Reach campaign, but it came a what Six considered to be a very large cost to the war effort. Jorge had stayed behind on the covenant ship to ensure the bomb went off when the corvette reached the super carrier. It had all been for nothing though, Reach would fall just weeks later when the massive covenant fleet arrived and invaded what was one of humanities fortress worlds. But here was the ship, looking just the way it had been when they had boarded it, he could still see the scars left behind by the savannah's point defenses guns, the engines were still trailing plasma from when Six himself launched two of his saber's missiles right into them. Everything about this situation put up red flags in Six's mind, the fact that the corvette hadn't been repaired by the crew. That lent more credence to Jorge's apparent survival but the fact that the ship was still intact was something Six and Keyes could not get their minds around. The ship had been in the middle of that slipspace drive bomb, it should have been torn apart when the forces of the transit were enacted upon its hull. If not then, then the ship should have been thrown somewhere in deep space, where the chances of them finding it being infanisamly small. But here it was clear as day infront of him with every single ding in its armor left exactly as Six remembered it.

The Spartan couldn't help but clutch his weapon a bit tighter as the pelican swung around and flew into the rather large hangar bay that lay in the middle of the ship, Emile and Chief readying their own weapons along with the marine fireteam Keyes had ordered to come along with the three Spartans as the pelicans engines powered down. The cargo bay door of the pelican opening up as the marines began to pour out of the dropship, their weapons at the ready as they began to secure the area in the hangar bay, a few of them yelling for weapons down and hands up as Six followed them out. Chief and Emile following close behind as the three Spartans moved out of the dropship, their weapons raised in the firing position as they looked around the hangar bay. Six and Emile spotting one very familiar face.

"Emile, Six." Jorge said as he looked upon his Spartan brothers helmeted faces, his own helmet firmly placed under his arm with the other carrying his trademarked heavy machine gun. The Spartan-II had a warm smile on his face as him and the marine pilots that had managed to survive in the belly of what used to be an enemy ship for so long looked upon their rescue. Several of the pilots were visibly teared up as the marines and Spartans lowered their weapons and welcomed back into the arms of their brothers in arms.

"Jorge buddy, you just don't know when to quit and lay down do you?" Emile asked in an almost joking tone as he looked at Jorge, the larger Spartan-II laughing and shaking his head as he looked down.

"Now Emile, you know it would take more than an entire covenant ship just to take down one of noble." Jorge replied with a smile as he set down his heavy weapon before turning his head and smiling at Six. "Guess it wasn't as much of a one way trip as we thought Six." He said in his calm tone his smile slowly disappearing from his face as his tone became more serious and solemn in nature. "What happened to Reach?" He asked the sound of his voice betraying his very real fear as he clenched his empty fist.

Emile was the first to speak the Spartan keeping his tone rather calm as he spoke to the larger Spartan. "You might wanna sit down for this big man, it ain't gonna be pretty." Emile said as Jorge looked back at Six, blinking as his own face stared back at him from the golden visor of the mjolnir armor. "Six?" Jorge asked as the big man looked like he was about the cry.

"I'm sorry Jorge, Reach is gone. Glassed by the covenant, the ships we have here are all thats left of the fleet and our forces." Six said as he walked up to the other Spartan, putting his gauntleted hand on the man's shoulder pad as Jorge seemed to waver in his resolve for about a minute before putting on a steely expression.

"And Noble?" The Spartan asked already knowing the answer Six was going to give him in his own mind, but he wanted to hear it from his brothers in arms firsthand.

"We are all that's left." Six said as he looked down, his golden visor betraying his pained expression as he spoke of the greatest failure in his long military career. Six looked back up at Jorge as the Spartan placed his own hand on Six's shoulder, smiling down at him as the hungarian man nodded at the smaller Spartan. "You did what you could Six, I'm just glad you two were able to make it out alive better that than the alternative."

"Yeah well, you better come with us big guy. I know the docs and Captain will want to give you a once over before sending you back into the fray whenever that maybe with Keyes having us stay put here, I also have a sneaking suspicion that the techs will want to give your new toy a full sweep for any new tech that might give us an edge in unknown space." Emile said with a grin hidden underneath his helmet as Jorge nodded before picking up his weapon and slowly walking towards the pelican, nodding at Chief as he passed by the oliver colored Spartan-II who had once shared in the pain that chief Menedez had drilled into them day after day while they were in the Spartan-II training program.

Six followed close behind, his weapon now firmly attached to the back of his armor with the magnetic holster that came standard on all Spartan armor. Nodding at Chief before speaking." Stay here with the marine teams and report back to Keyes, we will let him know this isn't a covenant trap." Six said before stepping onto the pelican, the cargo bay door sealing behind him as the Master Chief nods back before moving out to secure the rest of the ship with the marine squads they had brought with them, assault rifle at the ready for any remaining covenant forces that could still be lurking on the corvette.

Keyes.

Keyes watched as the pelican dropship landed in the vehicle bay, several squads of marines and his own personal guards standing just as a precaution. One he saw as necessary given their current predicament, one could never be too careful when dealing with a ship from a group who sought your extinction. He felt a rush of air pass by his body as the engines of the dropship were cut and the landing gear sinking into the deck as the ship's cargo bay door opened. The marines clutched their rifles tightly waiting for what could either be two Spartans or an elite strike team that had killed their own team over on the corvette.

The air was very tense as the marines prepared for the worst and Keyes felt his muscles tense slightly.

Then he saw two polarized visors looking out at the crew as the pelicans bay door opened fully and suddenly the tension in the air was released as the marines began to lower their weapons once they confirmed that the occupants inside the dropship were indeed friendlies. "Captain." Noble Six said as he stepped out of the dropship, looking around at the fireteams gathered around the dropship before walking towards Keyes with another Spartan following close behind him.

"Good to see you Noble, I trust you had no problems on that corvette?" Keyes asked as he looked to Noble five, studying him with his gaze as he lifted his metal pipe and inserted it into his mouth.

"Nothing of note sir, the Master Chief and the marine squads are currently securing the derelict and sweeping it for any covenant hostiles that may be in hiding. The techs should be able to head over soon." Six reported as he gave Keyes a quick salute.

Nodding Keyes looked back at Noble five, he recognized the designation that lay upon the spartans chest plate from when he had been privy to some of Halsey's darker secrets while she was working on the Spartan-II project. He had been there a few times during live fire training exercises as well as a few demonstrations of the improved Mjolnir armor. Jorge had been there more than a few times during both the demonstrations and training. The boy was a prime candidate to show off the physical augmentation to the ONI and UNSC brass and how the armor systems coupled with augmentations of the children created a soldier that could not be rivaled in terms of strength and speed.

But everyone knew it took more than strength and speed to make a soldier. Keyes had watched as both John and Jorge were molded through their training into the soldiers they needed them to be, they pit the two boys against impossible odds and when they didn't live up to the expectations Halsey just increased the training until their will was broken and they could both be molded into the soldiers that were now under Keyes's command. There was a pang of guilt in the old captains heart as he looked upon the two Spartans, one had been kidnapped while he was very young from a loving home on Reach where he would have grown into a fine young man. But that had been stripped away from him when ONI stepped in, forcing the young girls and boys that the UNSC protected to undergo gruesome training to defeat the insurrectionist threat. Then when the covenant showed up both Keyes and Halsey had both watched from their own positions in the military chain of command as the Spartans were thrown against the alien threat and atleast for a time, it seemed that the super soldiers would be able to hold their own against the entire covenant fleet.

Or atleast that was what the propaganda machine of ONI wanted the UNSC navy, marines and anyone without the necessary clearance to know the truth behind both the Spartans and the fact that many of the super soldiers had been confirmed to be killed. Thought ONI and HIGHCOM would never admit that to the general public. No the super soldiers had to be seen as invincible protectors of humanity, their sword and shield even if it cost them their own humanity in the process as they stole children in the night. Indoctrinating them and forcing them into military service.

Now all these young men and women could do was fight until the UNSC told them to stop, then once the war was over they would be turned back to ONI's own personal command in order to strike at anything that they felt may threaten humanity's existence or their own standing.

Keyes shook his head, these thoughts did not matter at the moment. Maybe one day the atrocities he had witnessed while he had been in Halsey's extremely small inner circle could be righted somehow, some way. But not today, today and not for a long while Keyes thought as he began to speak.

"What's your status Noble five?" Keyes asked as he held out a hand, the larger Spartan replicating the gesture as Jorge looked down at Keyes. "Green sir, a few bumps from the jump into the system but nothing serious. The pilots and I are just happy to be back in the arms of the UNSC forces." Jorge said as he looked around, watching as marines and deck crew continued on with their work.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" Jorge asked as he looked back at Keyes, the polarized visor of the Spartans helmet showing the captains his own reflection in the visors golden gaze.

"Granted son, what do you wish to say?"

"How many made it off Reach?" Jorge asked with a hint of hopefulness and worry mixed into his voice. Keyes knew how attached Jorge was to Reach from the psyche profiles Halsey had given him on Noble team before the remains of the squad made it to the _Autumn_.

"The planet was decimated Jorge, barely a fraction made it off in the evacuation ships and those here were among the ones who were left behind. I'll forward you a report on the death toll if you wish, but it will not be pretty." Keyes explained as he clasped his hands behind his back. Even with the helmet blocking his face Keyes could tell the Spartan was in a form of distress, his body had stiffened and his fists had tensed up. Clenching slightly as Jorge attempted to deal with the pain of losing the place he had called his home planet for years.

Keyes could not blame him, the man had sacrificed everything and had been willing to give up his own life in order to save the planet and buy the UNSC more time. To discover that his sacrifice had done nothing to change the course of events on Reach…..well Keyes could not even imagine what the Spartan felt at this moment. Pain, anger, hatred, regret and sorrow. It seemed to swirl around the super soldier like a storm of intense emotions.

"Go to the med bay Noble five, have the medics check you out thats an order." Keyes said, the super soldier nodding and saluting before walking out of the hangar area as Keyes turned back to face six.

"How is he lieutenant?" Keyes asked as he looked over at Six, the Spartan saluting before he spoke.

"Noble five is green across the board sir, few minor scratches from the covenant but other then that he appears to have not gone through any massive physical trauma."

"We both know that's not what I mean Noble…" Keyes responded in a knowing tone as he looked directly at the golden visor of the shorter Spartan.

"Captain harassing the big man now Six?" A low voice came from the pelican as Emile stepped out from the dropships cargo bay, his shotgun at the ready as he walked up to the two men.

"You and I both know Noble four that Five just lost his home, his planet. That will leave some mental scarring on even the best soldier, I need to know if I can trust him for active duty before handing him any sort of responsibility."

"Don't you dare talk about the big man like that, he sacrificed his own life for Reach and its people. He should be looked upon as a hero." Emile seemed to snarl, clutching his shotgun as if he were about to attack the captain right in the middle of the hangar bay.

"Stand down Noble, I am not trying to insult your teammates ability to handle himself. But you have to face the facts, being in his situation would cause significant mental scars. I need you both to look after him and try to figure out what he is feeling at this moment, I also need you to be honest with me if you feel he is unfit for duty. I am attempting to get you two to help him without me having to strip him of his rank and discharging him due to his mental health."

Emile seemed to stiffen as Keyes explained his reasoning as Six stepped between the two men in order to act as a sort of mediator between the super soldier and the captain who seemed to be at each other's throats. "Stand down Four." Six said as he looked directly at his fellow Spartan-III. The two titans staring one another down, almost as if they were daring one another to take the first strike.

But instead of raising his weapon, Emile just scoffed and made his way out of the hangar bay as he re holstered his shotgun on his back. The Spartan carrying himself with anger as Keyes looked back at Six, nodding at the Spartan. "Go get some rest son, I imagine you are all in need of it after the weeks spent fighting on Reach."

"I don't require any sleep sir, I am ready for orders." Six said plainly as he stood at attention.

"Alright lieutenant, then I order you to get some bunk time effective immediately, I'll see you at 0800. Dismissed!" Keyes ordered as he gave Six a quick salute before walking out of the hangar bay, his marine guards following close behind him.

Six

 **Six felt his boots hit the ground as he jumped out of the pelican dropship, his titanium boots leaving a deep imprint in the dirt below as the Spartan began running. Screams of civilians and marines alike echoing around him as Six began firing his weapon, the shell casings jingling as they hit the hard ground below. The bullets streaked through the air at high speed, piercing covenant energy shields, armor and flesh. His own shields flaring as he reloaded his weapon, slapping the magazine of ammunition from his belt into his MA37 assault rifle. He continued sprinting as he fired his weapon, his aim continued to be true even as he sprinted through the covenant lines. His bullets hitting each of their marks as he heard the sounds of grunts screaming and running away, only to have the methane tanks of their backs ruptured by a bullet. Which caused them to ignite and burn the corpse of the savage little creature. The explosion also took out many of the covenant troops in the radius of the blast who were not protected by energy shielding, those who were Six quickly gunned down with lethal efficiency.**

 **When none were left in the Spartans wake as the purple blood of the aliens soaked the ground around the Spartan. The Spartan heard the cry of a child coming from a nearby building as he shot the last elite between the eyes, not wanting to wait around he began moving towards the building. Using the rubble as cover as he moved towards one of the large apartment buildings a few blocks away. The building had been partially collapsed by a scarabs main gun, He could still see the marks left behind by its legs from when it was stomping through the burning city, it was a wonder anything managed to survive inside. The child's cry's becoming louder and louder as Six got closer to the source. The sounds of covenant guns striking the surface of the planet as UNSC evacuation shuttles began to lift off from the surface, all of them hoping to make it through the covenant fleet and into safer UNSC territory.**

 **Very few of them would make it and Six knew it, because he had seen it all before.**

 **Many of them would not live to see the next day.**

 **It didn't matter now though as Six made his way into the building, cutting down any covenant soldiers that stood in his way. It was dark as Six made his way deeper into the partially collapsed building. Turning on his rifles flashlight Six continued on his course, the sound his only means of finding the child trapped inside. He searched every room as the sound got louder, his augmented hearing allowing him to track the sounds location better than any marine in the UNSC.**

 **Six came to the last room before the collapsed stairs, his weapon at the ready as he heard the growls of brutes on the other side of the door. No doubt attempting to capture and do who knows what to the poor child. Whether they wanted to toy with their prey or eat it or perhaps both. Six did not know, but he did know that they would not live to do so once he passed through that door.**

 **Not willing to wait around any longer Six lifted up his boot and planted a firm breaching kick on the door, pushing the wooden door out of its frame and off of its hinges much to the surprise of the brutes inside as Six began firing. Striking the first brute in the gut and the legs. Causing the monster ape to let out a curse in its own rough language before Six emptied his entire magazine into the brute's body, causing blood to spill out onto the floor as the ape finally slumped over dead. The second brute went into a rage, picking up a coffee table and throwing it at the Spartan. The wood splintering and breaking against Six's shields as he felt his feet get pushed back a foot or two from the force of the blow.**

 **The brute let out a loud roar as it charged the Spartan, its body connecting with the super soldiers forcing him to fall to the ground as the brute got on top of him. Pounding at the Spartans more advanced shielding with his fists as Six attempted to grab his weapon. Unable to reach his rifle Six tried the next best thing he could think of, Reach down to his boot he grabbed the combat knife that was attached to the lower part of his leg. Even as the brute continued to drain his shields with every strike against the Spartans armor, the brutes strength was legendary amongst UNSC soldiers and quite feared for the right reasons. He had seen entire squads torn in half by the brutes, many of them were eaten afterwards by the monsters with little to no care that they were eating sentient beings.**

 **Taking the twelve inch blade Six drove it into the beasts abdomen, slowly slicing upwards through its stomach towards its chest. Slicing through muscle and its stomach lining, causing its acids to leak out onto the floor as Six continued to cut upwards. Causing the brute to growl and whimper slightly as it was slowly disallowed by the Spartan.**

 **Its blood and guts spilled out onto Six's armor as it collapsed on top of him, its life slowly draining from its eyes as the Spartan finished it off with another stab. This time directly into the chest. Pushing the monster off of him Six got up and looked around for the child, he could hear the young one but Six could not seem to find him. He looked in the vents around the apartment, behind furniture but he could not find the child.**

 **That's when he got his first flash, the sounds of laughing echoing through his mind as he moved deeper into the home. Walking into a hallway that seemed to be decorated with family pictures. They all looked so familiar to Six, but they seemed very distant as if he hadn't seen them in a long time. This house had belonged to a family and somehow he recognized this family.**

 **Another flash entered his mind, this time it was the sound of a child screaming for his mother and father as the covenant slaughtered them. Then an image of that same child running for his room and shutting the door, before crawling into one of the vents. The child barely had time to seal the grate before the covenant burst through the door, the child retreated deeper into the vent as the covenant forces looked around the room. Their weapons at the ready as they looked for the young one.**

 **Six shook his head again, the image fading away as he continued to move down what seemed to be an endless hallway at this point. His knife still firmly grasped in his hand as another flash pierced his minds eye. This time it was a picture of a darkroom, a lone child stood surrounded by dark, imposing figures. The little one was sniffling, with tears running down his face as he clenched his fists.**

" **We are offering you a chance at revenge against the aliens that burned your home to the ground, will you take it child?" one male voice asked the child in a knowing tone, obviously already knowing what the answer from the boy would be.**

 **The child hesitated for what seemed like less than a second before nodding at the shadowy figure, its face still obscured from Six's line of sight by the immense darkness.**

" **Good. Then you can come with us B312." The voice said as the image faded from his mind.**

 **It was then that Six finally understood what this was, there was no more confusion in his mind as he finally reached the end of the hallway. His knife still clutched firmly in his hand as he opened the door, to his own room.**

 **This had been the planet were the Spartan had grown up on, the covenant had burnt it to the ground and Six had barely made it off world in time when a team of marines forced their way into the apartment and killed the covenant forces inside.**

 **The dream world seemed to be tearing itself apart as Six went through the door. All around him the world faded to black until he could see nothing, hear nothing.**

 **Then a light pierced through the darkness as he awoke from the restless dream.**

Six felt restless after that dream.

Actually restless was a severe understatement as he lay in the private quarters that Keyes had supplied him with, he felt like his skin was crawling with his armor removed. He had sent it to the techs for repairs, though he doubted there was much they could do at the moment with their limited supplies and no chance of resupply from the UNSC anytime soon. So it meant that his armor would have to do with some patchwork repairs at the moment, but it was better than nothing.

Still he felt naked without his armor on, he like most of the second and third generation Spartans had lived most of their lives with the armor fastened securely to their bodies. Being without the armor for long periods of time made many Spartans, including Six very uneasy to be in just the body suit. As a Spartan he liked to be ready for combat at a moment's notice, that meant having his armor on for the majority of the time even when he was technically off duty.

Then suddenly an alarm began blaring throughout the ship as Six burst from his bedding and ran towards the engineering deck.

This was one of the reasons why he liked to keep his armor on.

Keyes

Keyes strode from his quarters, pipe in hand and his sidearm strapped to his side as he made his way to the bridge the proximity alarms still blaring for what felt like the hundredth time today as Keyes made his way through the bridge doors. The marine guards saluting as he made his way through, the two men clutching their MA37 rifles tightly as Keyes continued on his way to the command deck.

"What have we got?" Keyes asked as he looked around the command deck, watching as the bridge officers rushed around checking sensors and communications. Cortana popped up on the holotube.

"Captain, fighter patrols detected the silhouettes of an unknown vessel. We can't seem to pin down the type but from the size it seems to be some sort of frigate. Not following any specific path, so we are assuming the ship is drifting but we cannot be sure." Cortana reported as the alarms continued blaring.

"How close is it to our nebula?" Keyes asked as he clasped his hands behind his back as he looked at the image silhouette on his view screen.

"It's going to pass right by us sir, but if we can capture the derelict or help the crew we may be able to learn where we are and perhaps even find a way back home." Cortana replied with a hint of doubt in that could be heard in her electronic voice.

"What is it Cortana?"

"I'm getting reports of another ship travelling alongside the larger vessel, it appears the derelict has been boarded. I recommend sending ODST strike teams if you are willing to investigate sir."

"I'll take it under advisement Cortana, tell the fighter squadrons to keep a safe distance between them and the cruiser and send in the Hornet. I want three strike teams to be ready in half an hour."

"Who do you want to lead the strike team sir?"

"Tell sergeant Johnson to meet his teams in the hangar bay." Keyes said with a slight grin as the alarm cut out, listening as the military machine of the UNSC training went to work in the belly of the _Pillar Of Autumn._

30 minutes later.

Johnson stood in the airlock with his three squads, his M7S clasped firmly in his hands as the UNSC Hornet moved out of the nebula and alongside the derelict unknown vessel, they had attempted to send several transmissions to the drifting vessel but received no response, several fighters had also sent messages via signal light in front of what they had assumed was the ships bridge, but the damaged vessel just continued to drift with no response, but there was still the concern of the other ship that had also docked with the larger vessel. If they turned out to be a problem, they it could be bloody and the last thing the UNSC forces need was to be fighting a new war.

The ship's docking clamps sealed near what they guessed was an airlock, the ODST strike teams finishing their gear check as Johnson loaded a clip into his weapon. "Alright marines." The sergeant began to yell as two ODST troopers began to cut through the outer door of the derelict airlock. "This is a first contact situation, if any of you greenhorns don't know what that means. It means that if we find aliens we will not fire unless fired upon, Jenkins I'm looking at you marine." Johnson explained as he watched the ODST troopers continue to cut through the door before turning to face his men.

"But if who ever built this goddamn ship gives us a slap in the face, then we will rip their skulls from their spines and toss them away laughing!" Johnson yelled giving the marines assembled in front of him a grin as he held his M7S in one hand.

"Am I right marines?"

"Sir yes, sir!" The marines yelled back as they gave the sergeant a salute.

"Mhmmmm, damn right I am." Johnson said as he heard the sound of metal hitting the ground as a large circle that had been cut into the airlocks outer door slammed backwards into the floor inside the alien ship. Two ODST troopers making their way through as Johnson signalled the rest to form up behind him, holding his weapon at the ready as he bent down slightly and stepped over the red hot metal, still cooling from the heat of the cutting torch.

Johnson whistled as he looked around, the ship's interior was nothing like a UNSC or Covenant vessel. The corridors were coloured a light grey but they were also mired with burn marks and holes from what appeared to be weapons fire, the entire ship seemed to creak as they boarded as if it were about to fall apart at a moment's notice. Distorted sounds of alarms blaring echoed throughout the ship as red lights flashed from fixtures that seemed to be embedded inside of the walls.

"Clear!" One ODST called.

"Clear here as well! But god damn it looks like this ship was shot through a meatgrinder more than once then spat out of a brute's mouth" called another as a few of the marines chuckled at the comment.

"Quiet marines." Johnson said in a low tone as they began to look around, skeletal remains of what Johnson guessed used to be the crew littered the corridors as the ODST troops continued to move deeper into this ghost ship.

Johnson turned around to face the three squads he had with him, speaking in a low tone as to not alert whatever could be lurking on this ship. "Alright Fire Team zulu, I want you to stay on this level and look for the bridge. See if you can get this bucket up and running, get any info you can find as well." Johnson ordered, the marines nodding before heading further down the corridor.

"Fire team charlie you're my guards, you are to defend this point incase we need to come running." Johnson turned and faced an open door, leading to what he guessed what was some form of lift.

"The rest of you are with me, let's see what lies deeper in this goddamn ship." He commented as he raised his Submachine gun, keeping low as his squad followed close behind. Scanning the ships tight corridors with their weapons as they made their way to the lift. The elevator shaft lighting up with what little power it had left. Johnson looked around for the controls for the lift, quickly spotting a glowing control panel that was labeled with some strange alien language.

"Alright boys." Johnson said as he reached out towards the control panel. "I have no idea how the hell this elevator works, could lead us straight to hell for all I know so be ready."

"Always knew you would be the death of me Sarge." One younger marine commented as Johnson quickly looked back.

"Jenkins if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Shut your damn mouth, that's a standing order trooper!" Johnson yelled as he gave Jenkins a punch to the gut, causing the ODST to grunt and clutch his stomach as he felt the full force of the sergeants fist hit his belly. With the trooper sufficiently dealt with Johnson hit one of the buttons on the lift not caring which one at the moment as the lift door closed and the elevator began to descend.

"All fireteams, delta is heading deeper into the unknown ship. Give me an update men." Johnson.

The comms crackled. "Charlie here, we found the bridge. Place is a goddamn mess Sarge, we got casualties everywhere but…."

"What is it marine?" Johnson asked as he pressed the button on his headset.

"Sarge some of these corpses look like they have been torn apart, like this ship had a wild animal set loose in its halls and I can't help but get the feeling that we are being watched." The marine said with a slight hint of fear in his voice that Johnson could hear even over the crackling comm.

"Grow some balls marine, get any info from that bridge and see if you can figure out what happened to this ship thats an order."

With that Johnson cut the comm line as the lift stopped and a low hiss could be heard as the pressure doors opened, holding his weapon at the ready the marines began to move into what looked like the crew quarters. There were less corpses in this part of the ship but a few still lay near sealed blast doors as if the crew had tried to claw their way out of this section.

"What do you think sarge? Suffocation?" Corporal Perez asked as the marine held up his BR55 battle rifle, covering the squad's Six.

"I dunno son, be a bad way to die." Johnson muttered as he looked down at the torn up corpses the remains scattered around the corridor , the hiss of the life support system was the only thing he could hear as he motioned for the rest of the squad to move on.

"something feels wrong here Sergeant." Jenkins muttered as he looked up at the damaged ceiling before focusing his gaze downwards as the marines continued to step lightly as to not disturb those resting on the ship. " like where the hell is all the damage, I'm not seeing much in the way of blast marks or weapons fire."

"I dunno marine, just keep your eyes and ears on a swivel and if you see anything open fire with a warning shot first." Johnson advised as he gripped his own weapon a bit tighter, feeling a slight chill go down his spine as they continued moving deeper into the ship.

The squad passed through an open door to what they assumed was the medical wing when Johnson heard a crackle over the comms.

"say again marines what's going on?" Johnson asked as he slapped his ear piece with the palm of his hand.

"Sarge, I think we found out what happened to this ship. Sensor logs show that the ship underwent a massive cascade failure in its systems. From what I can see it disabled the ship for a time allowing boarders from the craft, they killed the crew and took the ship." The marine said over the comm as Johnson nodded.

"You got anything else marine?"

"negative sir, most of the data on these terminals is corrupted to hell and back. I'll report back if we get anything else." The marine replied before cutting the comm link as Johnson motioned for his own squad to continue on their way forward.

Suddenly then a screech could be heard echoing throughout the corridor, this caused the marines to tense up as Johnson motioned for the squad to spread out. Turning on their flashlights as a scattering and scratching sound could be heard echoing down the corridor.

"Contact!" yelled Jenkins as the marine began to fire down the ship's corridor, the sound echoing throughout the ship as the muzzle of the marines weapon flashed with each bullet fired.

"Hold your fire marine, what the hell do you see?" Johnson asked as he followed the line of fire and saw where the bullets hit as red alarm lights flashed intermittently in a darker part of the ship. Helping to illuminate the creature every few seconds, what Johnson saw was a terrifying mutant of a creature, it appeared to be some hybrid of a goat and lizard with massive claws that it held out as if it were attempting to give someone a hug.

Johnson knew he had to react quickly. "Take it down! Take it down!"

The squad began to fire on the unknown enemy as it let out a loud screech that pierced even the helmet covered ears of the ODST's, but they continued to fire as the beast attempted to charge at them. Running headlong right into their bullets as they drained an entire magazine into the clawed monster.

Johnson reloaded his M7S before diving out of the way, the creature's claws catching one of the men in the gut as he let out a pained scream and held his stomach as if trying to prevent his own insides from spilling out onto the ship's floor, the creature blew past the rest of them and continued down the corridor. The red emergency lights illuminating its brownish skin every so often as it let out another screech.

"Jenkins take care of him! The rest of you are with me!" Johnson yelled as he began to move in the direction the creature was going. Firing his weapon at the slightest glimpse of the monstrosity.

Keyes

"Captain! Report from the strike teams. They've encountered an unknown contact and are attempting to pursue, one of their men is injured. They are requesting permission for a lethal takedown." Cortana reported as Keyes couldn't help but grimace slightly as he slide his pipe between his lips.

"Permission granted. Tell the _Hornet_ that MAC rounds are authorized as well if things get to out of hand."

"We only have a limited number of shells Captain." Cortana said with a hint of concern in her voice as Keyes suggested using some of their limited amount of heavy weaponry.

"Then let them know to make the first shot count." Keyes ordered as he took a puff from his pipe, blowing smoke from his mouth before taking another puff.

Then suddenly an explosion rocked the _Autumn,_ her hull shaking but managing to hold under the force of the surprise attack as Keyes stumbled against the command console. Putting his hands out to catch himself as he grimaced slightly.

"Report!"

"Targets just appeared on sensors sir!" The sensor officer yelled as he frantically typed commands into his console.

"Armor appears to be holding, damn thing was a directed energy weapon. That thing breaks through and it'll melt its way through the ship." Another officer yelled as Keyes regained his footing.

"Bring us around to face them and charge the MAC cannon, get squadrons Alpha through Charlie prepped and airborne now!" Keyes ordered as he raised his voice above the panicked tones that spread throughout the ship's bridge.

The _Autumn_ let out a low hum as it turned to face the aggressors that decided to take a few pot shots at her hull. MAC cannon already charging as the larger ship faced down three other ships that looked no bigger than the smallest UNSC frigate. The UNSC _Pegasus_ stood alongside the _Autumn_. The smaller frigate was much larger than the three attacking ships that faced off against the two UNSC ships, for once in Keyes's military career in the UNSC they had the advantage of size.

"Cortana, give me an assessment on the unknowns composition and ship strength." Keyes ordered as he stared at the lead ship as the two sides hung in the space above what was supposed to be their safe haven for the time being.

"Their weapons appear to be energy based, though scans can't seem to get to their power source. Shield strength is much lower than any covenant ship on record so we can most likely rule them out."

"Sir, one of the ship's is breaking off. Their headed straight for the planet's surface!" One of the bridge officers yelled as Keyes looked out the bridge window. Watching as the two other ships put themselves between the _Autumn_ and the descending ship.

"damn, let the ground forces know they are going to have some company soon." Keyes ordered as another blast hit the _Autumn_ head on.

"Cortana! Get me a firing solution on those two ships. If anymore make it past, they will cause hell for the civilians and marines on the ground." Keyes yelled as the _Autumn's_ fifty millimeter point defense turrets began to open fire in one of the two ships.

The Pegasus firing its MAC cannon first due to the fact that it was weaker and took a lot less time to charge. The super charged shell caught one of the attacking ships on its port side. Dropping its shields almost instantly and cutting through the main decks of the attacking ships, crippling it almost instantly as the shell continued to streak through space.

It was then the other ship began to launch its fighters along with what remained of the crippled ships squadrons. They engaged the longsword and saber fighters that swarmed around the smaller attackers, letting loose a hail of high explosive rounds as the enemy fighters fired smaller versions of the energy weapons their frigates used.

"Captain, reports are coming in from the surface. The enemy is attempting to capture civilians and marines alive." Cortana reported as another blast from the enemies energy weapons rocked through the _Autumn._

Keyes clenched maybe this planet was not as safe as Keyes hoped it was and if fate wished to take those he saved away from him so soon. Then he would fight tooth and nail to keep them as safe as possible in a hostile universe.

"Cortana, send the Spartans to the surface."

 **Six**

Six felt the pelican dropship he was currently sitting inside of lurch as it made its way through the atmosphere. The outer hull of the dropship glowing white as it broke through the upper layer of clouds that dotted the continent the UNSC forces had set up their forward operating base on. Flashes of weapon fire from the _Dauntless's_ heavy defense turrets could be seen below the cloud cover. Followed by the explosions of grenades and rocket fire from the marine defenders as they attempted to fight off whomever decided to attack their temporary home.

Four other pelicans flew in formation with his own as Six looked to his right side and watched as Emile loaded up his shotgun. The weapon letting out a loud click as each shell was individually loaded into its chamber.

Six himself held his MA37 assault rifle firmly in his hands, the weapon fully loaded as indicated by the weapons ammo counter located near the front of the weapon. Six had checked it about seven times so far to make sure the weapon was clear of any defects or jams. As always though the weapon was free of any flaws and the ammo had been loaded perfectly into the weapon.

"Twenty seconds, till planetfall!" The pilot called out from over the comm as Six felt the pelican accelerate towards its destination. Jorge sat to Six's left, cocking back the massive bolt on his M247H heavy machine gun. His weapon letting out a low wurr as the motor began to spin up.

"Alright, lets hit it marines!" The pilot called out as Six felt the pelican suddenly decelerated as the dropships cargo bay door opened to reveal the battlefield.

The camp was awash with confusion and bullets as the marines attempted to defend their fortified placements from the invaders that had invaded their makeshift home.

Six saw the massive mass driver at the end of their makeshift runway launch a round directly into the belly of one of the enemy fighter craft that flew around their airspace like mosquitos. The craft was almost instantly engulfed in flames as the pilot burned within its cockpit as the craft disintegrated around it.

Firing his MA37 at one of the foot soldiers that seemed to be pouring out of the enemy frigate that made it planetside. The enemy soldier falling as soon as the rounds struck him in both the abdomen and the chest. Cutting where Six guessed the vital arteries were based upon human physiology. The results spoke for themselves as another one of the aliens was downed viciously by Six. His weapon continuing to bark out rounds everyone the Spartan pulled its trigger.

He kept firing until the first magazine was empty, Six quickly unloaded the magazine from the weapon before slamming a fresh one home and cocking the bolt back on his rifle.

Six then spotted a marine captain relaying orders from a small fox hole, his helmet covered in dirt as an explosion tore up the ground near his position. Quickly with his augmented speed Six began to move towards the man, hoping to get some idea of the situation on the ground.

"Hell, when I asked for reinforcements, I didn't think Keyes would send a squad of Spartans." The captain muttered in a thick british accent as he looked up from his foxhole and tacpad as Six fired upon the enemy, hitting a few of the alien unknowns in their chests and abdomen. "Captain Tiberius. C-company."

"Captain, what's the situation?" Six asked in his gruff voice as he took cover behind some sandbags, bullets from the rear lines whizzing over his head along with enemy laser beams as the unknowns attempted to ascertain the Spartans position amongst the hail of fire and bullets.

"Enemy forces have massed up along the tree line near the civilian housing, we cleared out as many as we could. But some of the civvies were captured." The captain explained as he looked down.

"Bastards got the bright idea to use them as human shields, we couldn't do anything as they carted them off to the enemy ship." The Captain said as he slammed his fist against the ground.

"Ship is full of around one hundred and twenty civvies now, we can't move in at the moment or we risk their safety and the enemy can take off at any moment."

"Anything else?" Six asked as he fired his weapon again, tearing the enemies wooden cover to shreds as they began to move back, deeper into the forest. Frowning slightly as the captain shook his head slight, clutching an M6G in his hands as they both began providing covering fire for the front line troops. The magnifying scope allowing him to hit a few targets with precision.

"Situation is FUBAR Spartan, that's about it." The captain said as he reloaded his magnum, sliding the large magazine into the pistol before firing again.

Six then heard the sound of a large caliber Machine gun firing from behind him, followed by the sounds of high explosive rounds slicing through flesh, armor and bone. Shredding it all to pieces as the enemy soldiers began to scream in pain and attempted to take cover.

Jorge had been hanging back as always, providing supporting fire for the squad's as they attempted to pierce the enemy line that had formed a few hundred meters away from the unfinished civilian housing, his heavy machine guns armor piercing rounds tearing through the cover the aliens had been using too take pot shots at the marines.

Six had to admit this enemy was clever they had dotted the landscape between the marines and the frigate with light armor that moved quickly between the trees making it much harder for the marines and their heavy vehicles to push deeper into the thick brush.

Six tossed a frag grenade into an enemy foxhole, his augmented strength allowing him to throw the fragmentation device further then any regular marine. The grenade bounced once against the soft ground before planting itself within the hole.

The enemy soldiers could only let out a loud scream before the grenade exploded under their feet. The explosion severing their legs as the fragments of shrapnel from the device caught them in the major arteries. Effectively putting them out of their misery as Six took cover behind the sandbags of a turret emplacement.

A marine gunner holding onto the machine gun for dear life as he let out an almost insane laugh. The large weapons fifty caliber rounds tearing through group after group of enemy soldiers like paper through an ONI shredder.

Six spotted Emile a few meters away behind a crate the Spartan and a few marines had been using as makeshift cover. He had exchanged his trademarked shotgun for a standard issue DMR. The former weapon having little to no effect at this long range. Several cracks could be heard as the medium range rifle in Emiles hand barked and hit two enemy combatants in between the eyes.

Six also continued firing his MA37, the rifles automatic firing allowing him to continuously mow down the combatants with relative ease as the marines and Spartans began to push the enemy back into the trees.

The sounds of pelicans hanging over head as they fired their forty millimeter cannons into the Bush. Cutting down any who got in the way as marines on warthogs began to push into the forest. Their gatling guns picking off the stragglers.

"Yeah fucking get some you alien fucks!" yelled one marine as he took a couple shots with his sniper rifle. The anti material rifles fifty caliber bullets making short work of the enemy armor, the rifle was meant to be used as a tank killer before the human-covenant war thus it shredded enemy soldiers and emplacements.

"Keep pushing, they're falling back!" Yelled another marine.

"Thats right you mothers! Fucking run!"

"Not if we can help it marine! Get after them, we have to rescue those civvies." Yelled a sergeant as Six felt an explosion from a scorpion tanks shell rocks the ground below him. The sound of tank treads crushing branches, rocks and body parts underneath the massive armored vehicles echoing across the battlefield as they began to push forward, slowly but steadily.

"Sir! Look up high. The enemy frigate is running for it." another marine screamed in horror as the enemy's frigate seemingly abandoned their fighting force.

"No! You fucking cowards get the fuck back here. I'll burn all of you." Another yelled in rage as he fired his assault rifle.

"Calm down marine." Yelled Tiberius as he too watched the ship break through the atmosphere, his voice quieting down to a whisper as they watched the men and woman they had rescued off of Reach, charging themselves to protect in this harsh unknown part of the universe get carted off of the planet like cattle to the slaughter.

Many marines across the torn up landscape were having the same fits, many of them firing their own weapons at the sky in a vain attempt to hit the enemy ship even as it left the system at a speed their own heavier ships could not hope to match without pushing their reactors to critical levels. At that point they would be at risk of a core breach which would take out their limited supply of vessels at the moment.

No all they could do was watch as friends and family were carted off world.

"We need a plan." Muttered Six, his rifle gripped in his hands as he squeezed off a few more rounds only to be hit by a few more laser blasts as well as some projectiles from some of the aliens who carried these small submachine gun looking rifles. The rounds knocking down his shields as the Spartan took cover, pressing his armored body against the ground as several laser blasts heated the ground around him. Causing the stones and dirt to glow a bright red as the laser fire continued, pinning the Spartan down as his mind attempted to find a way to get out of this position.

Getting on his helmet comm the Spartan contacted Jorge, his comm crackling as the connection was established with the other Spartans helmet. "Jorge! I need cover at point 04 now!" Six yelled into the comm, his voice could almost be heard outside of his sound proof helmet it was so loud.

"Copy that Six, keep your head down." Jorge responded, his accent bleeding through the comm as Six watched from his small fox hole behind his rock as he watched the aliens who had a bead on his position get cut down by heavy machine gun fire.

The rounds flew over Six's head as Jorge rained down his own brand of deadly danger closer fire support, his weapon letting out its trade mark sound as the weapon barked throughout the battlefield.

The aliens could be heard, hissing and yelling at one another through their masks as Six waited for a break in the covering fire. The bullets stopped raining for a couple seconds and rather than allowing the now scattered enemy the chance to regroup Six took the chance to bolt from his cover towards the enemy lines, his own assault rifle barking as he fired several suppressing bursts into the aliens cover, forcing them to stay down as the Spartan moved towards their lines.

"Get down Six!" He heard Jorge yell over the comm, the other Spartan had finally finished reloading his massive weapon, the machine gun could be heard firing once again its sound causing many of the aliens who were attempting to move up by crawling to duck as they heard the weapon they had begun to fear already fire again. Six himself diving into a crater caused by an exploding scorpion tank shell, the smoke was still rising from the crater as SIx buried his armored body into the dirt.

He could hear Jorge's weapon roar overhead once again as the bullet spray rained down upon the enemy attempting the push up, thats when Six felt his vision flash an image in front of his eyes. **"Find us."** A voice that was barely as loud as a pin dropping said in the back of the Spartan's head as he heard the firing from Jorge's weapon cease. Once again standing up and running towards the enemy lines, his boots digging into the ground leaving deep imprints in the dirt as he held his weapon in his hands. Firing it once again and allowing the rifle to soak itself in blood, the weapon punching through the alien armor as Six dove into the enemy lines. Letting his training take control as he felt the voice in his head still fighting to get free of his training, the voice now much louder as it spoke to Six within his own mind.

" **Find us!"**

" **Find us Jedi!"**

" **Help us!"**

" **Please!"**

The voices said over and over again even as Six slaughtered his way through the enemy lines, reloading his rifle quickly before slamming the butt of the weapon into the helmeted head of an alien who was attempting to get close to him the weapon shattering the helmet along with the aliens skull causing green blood to spurt from the neck stump that was left behind. Covering Six's armor in blood as he continued to move as fast as he could, his head still being infected with the voices within his own skull as he fired his weapon.

The bullets streaking through the air and striking each enemy they were aimed at, his weapon heating up as his quickly reloaded it after his thirty two round magazine was spent of ammunition. The ammo counter returning to full as the Spartan jumped over one rather large rock, his body tensing as his boot stepped on the head of one alien who had been using the boulder for cover. His boot crushing the skull due to the full weight of his armor being so heavy that the aliens helmet could only be crushed underneath it.

Blood soaked his armor now as Six was now surrounded on all sides by the alien enemy that had attacked their base, squeezing the trigger of his Assault rifle Six began to rain death upon the alien group surrounding him. Holding the trigger down in order to create an unbreakable line of fire.

But the voices were still whispering within his skull.

" **Jedi, come to us….fulfil your destiny."**

" **Claim your heritage!"**

" **Claim your right!"**

Six could barely focus on the enemy in front of him as the voices shouted at him as if they were trying to force him to obey them. It became to much as the marines were beginning to push forwards into the enemy lines as well, their weapons could be heard echoing throughout the forest along with their yells and curses directed towards the hostile invaders that dared to challenge the UNSC defenders. As they did though, Six couldn't help but feel something welling within his mind. It was as if something had been unlocked in the midst of the battle as the invaders fell around him, some form of lock in his mind had been broken and a power he did not know he had was being let free.

It was then that Six let out a hoarse yell as pain screeched throughout his spine as he felt some form of energy begin to flow through his body. His armor now felt like a metal coffin as Six attempted to fight through the intense pain that the energy coursing through his body was making him feel coarse through his every muscle.

But then there was a sudden release.

Six felt the energy release from his body along with the pain in his muscles and bones, the energy seemed to pulse around his body forcing the aliens around him backwards with the force of the energy exiting his body, then suddenly a second wave of energy was forced outwards this one more powerful than the last as the enemies around Six began to disintegrate around him in what appeared to be piles of ash. But the energy did not stop there, it continued to travel outwards as Six collapsed into the soil below. His breathing ragged as the fighting continued to push deeper into the forest, the enemy forces either being captured or killed by the marines as their ship continued off world to the edge of the system.

But Six was left feeling off, his training had never prepared him for something like this energy he felt flowing through his mind and body now. His mind was still whispering at him though, the Spartan gripping his helmet in his gauntleted hands, the pain from the power could still be felt throughout his body as one whisper rose above them all within his mind.

"Follow me Jedi." A voice said as a bright light appeared in front of the young Spartan, the super soldier looking upwards as he saw a blue almost transparent ghost like image in front of him.

"W-who are you?" Six asked as he looked upon the masked ghost, the man looking like some form of armored monk with the dark robes and t-shaped visor that appeared to have a sort of red tint to it even with the glowing blue outline of the specter.

"I am Revan, but you may know me as Master my padawan." The man said before turning around and walking into the forest, motioning for Six to follow as the Spartan clutched his abdomen in his confused state. His mind was still reeling from what he had done as well as being so confused by the power flowing through his body now. What Six wanted was answers and if this specter of his mind was willing to give him some then he would follow for now.

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this.**


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